Of Love And Macbeth
by Darbles
Summary: When Dean Winchester's car breaks down in front of an old theater, he doesn't count on meeting a very handsome stage hand named Castiel rehearsing lines for the play Macbeth! AU (no supernatural creatures/hunting). Destiel fluff/crack/drama (slight sabriel or samifer). Rating is for some slight language on Dean's part.
1. Chapter 1

Love and Macbeth Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first story, so reviews/comments are greatly appreciated! This will be multi-chapter, so I promise to update as frequently as I can!

Disclaimer: I do not own Superntural or any of the characters!

* * *

"SON OF A BITCH!" Dean Winchester slammed his hands against the steering wheel of his car angrily as the engine sputtered to a stop. "Come on baby don't die on me!" He coaxed as he repeat turned the keys in the ignition, praying that somehow it would start the car back up.

_Could today get any worse?_ He thought to himself; his boss was sick and he had to cover for him at the auto garage where he worked, he had to deal with at least five prissy customers who thought they were so much better than him just because he was a mechanic, _I'm pretty sure if you asked any of them to diagnose and fix a several-thousand-pound machine, none of them could do it_! Unfortunately fate decided to royally screw him over once again, and have his car die in the middle of nowhere, just to top off his crappy day.

As if fate could hear his words, a clap of thunder boomed overhead and rain started pouring down.

"Perfect, just freaking _perfect!_" Dean yelled, angrily getting out of the car and looking around. It looked like he was in an older neighborhood, and at this time of night, anyone who was around was long gone. Shielding his face from the rain, he could just make out a large building ahead of him with a light on inside. He checked to make sure the Impala was locked, and sprinted to building.

Dean reached the awning and walked up to the large door. "Hey" he called out, knocking, "anybody in there? My car broke down and I-" As he knocked, the door swung slightly open. Dean cautiously pushed it open further and walked inside.

Dean suppressed a chill, the air inside was cold and he was drenched from the storm. It looked like he was in some sort of lobby, it was dimly lit but he could see several sets of doors and a staircase which probably lead to more. It was grand, in an faded, old-fashioned sort of way.

He continued to the set of doors in front of him, swinging them open and walking into what looked like an old theater, something that you would see in classic movie.

"Hello?" He called out, his voice echoing around the large room. It was dark, but the few lights that were on let him make out a floor slopping downwards through rows of seats, leading up to what appeared to be a stage.

Dean could make out what appeared to be a lone figure on the stage.

"Hey, um, sorry I walked in like this, the door was unlocked and my car broke down so I-" Dean stopped when he heard the figure speaking.

"A good and virtuous nature may recoil an Imperial charge. But I shall crave your pardon" The figure said.

"What are you-"

"That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose".

Dean realized the figure had not heard him come in, and stood transfixed as the man continued speaking, now moving around the stage as he spoke. Dean could now see he was reading the lines out of what looked like a book. _Oh he's rehearsing. _Dean thought, mentally slapping him for taking so long to figure it out. He stood transfixed as figure continued, the rough voice seeming to bring the words to life and entrancing him.

"Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell. Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, yet grace must still look so." The figure finished animatedly, turning back around towards the audience and looking up. His words cut of immediacy as he spotted Dean standing still in the aisle.

"What are you doing here?" The voice demanded roughly, with a hint of shock.

Dean was snapped out of his reverie "Oh, um, my car broke down and I saw the light on and came to see if someone could help me out." He explained

"So you just decided to walk in here?" The figure asked annoyed as he the stairs off the stage and approached Dean.

"What? No! I tried knocking but the door was unlocked and it opened on its own!" Dean said hurriedly. "I tried calling out but apparently you couldn't hear me."

"Oh, I see." The man said slightly embarrassed. "I apologize; I did not realize you were there."

"It's fine man, anyways, it's storming cats and dogs out there and my car won't start, can you help me out?"

"Yes I can see that it has been raining." The man said dryly, looking pointedly where Dean's soaked clothing had started to form a small puddle on the carpet.

"Oh, my bad." Dean said apologetically. "I must look like DiCaprio at the end of _Titanic_, huh?" He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

The man cocked his head and furrowed his eyebrows at Dean, "I don't understand that reference." He said, confused.

"Dude, you haven't seen Titanic?" Dean said, his shock making him forget what he was doing.

"I believe I saw it once when Balthazar forced me into it, but I don't remember much other than some song that Gabriel kept singing about a 'heart going on' or something."

Despite not knowing who Gabriel was (or what a 'Balthazar' was for that matter) Dean had to resist the urge to laugh at the man's confusion. From this close he could see that he was pale, slightly shorter and smaller than Dean, with impossibly blue eyes and messy dark brown hair, with, when combined with his slight stubble, made it look like the man had just rolled out of bed.

Dean jumped when he realized that he had probably been staring at the man. "So, anyways, about my car?"

"Yes, I do believe there are some tools in back we could use to jump start your car. Just let me finish cleaning up." The man said, walking back down the aisle and disappearing behind the stage.

Dean stood there for a minute, starting to zone out when the man suddenly appeared behind Dean with a pile of supplies, causing him to jump. "Damn, we really need to get you a bell or something!" He exclaimed, trailing off as he realized how close the man was standing.

The man just stared at Dean again with that same confused look he had earlier. "This is to dry off" he said, holding out a towel from the items he had brought back.

"Thanks…..uh, sorry, what's your name?" Dean asked.

"My name is Castiel, Castiel Novak." He replied. "And you are?"

"Dean Winchester." Dean said holding out his hand for a handshake. Castiel looked at his hand for a moment, like he wasn't sure what to do, then lightly took it between his own, and giving it a slight shake.

Dean was surprised at the heat he felt from the brief contact. He took the offered towel and began to attempt and dry himself off.

Castiel watched as the stranger, _Dean_, he corrected, rubbed his short light-brown hair with the towel. He was taller than Castiel, well built, and appeared to have green eyes from what Castiel could make out in the dim light. Not wanting to appear like he was watching the man, he grabbed a mop from the pile, and began to sweep up where Dean had tracked mud onto the floor. That finished he grabbed the mop and the now-wet towel Dean handed him, and put them in a pile by the door to dry.

"So, uh, what are _you_ doing here?" Dean asked Castiel, trying to relieve the slightly uncomfortable silence.

"I am a stage hand; I had to stay behind and lock up tonight, which is why I am still here this late." Castiel answered.

"Oh, I figured you were one of the actors, from the way you were saying those lines earlier." Dean responded, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as Castiel looked up and stared at him.

"N-no, I was just, um, I got distracted." Castiel mumbled, glancing back down away from Dean.

Dean felt his ears heat up. "Oh, sorry." He coughed uncomfortably.

Castiel cleared his throat "So about your car?"

"Right. So, it stopped just down the street a little bit. I think it just needs a jumpstart, I can look after it better once I get home though." Dean said, grateful for the subject change.

"I found some jumper cables, so if I bring my car around you should be alright." Castiel explained.

Dean agreed to the plan, and they headed out a side door to where Castiel had parked. Dean stopped as he saw the man's car.

"What?" the man asked gruffly, turning to look at Dean.

"Nothing. Just that your car is…well it's kind of a piece of shit." Dean stated, eyeing the dinged up-foreign-Junker in front of him.

"Well at least mine didn't break down in the middle of the street." Castiel replied, with a hint of annoyance.

"Sorry, I don't really have a filter when it comes to cars. I'm a mechanic." He explained, seeing Castiel's look of confusion.

"Well that's ironic." Castiel responded dryly.

"Hey, my baby's getting old! She just needs to take a break every once and a while, that's all! You'll see, I'll have her running like brand new in no time!" Dean defended.

"She?" Castiel asked, confused.

"The woman of my life, my baby!" Dean exclaimed proudly as they pulled up to where the Impala was still parked in the street.

Dean got out of the POS car and popped the hood, attaching the jumper cables Castiel had brought, then doing the same for the Impala.

"Okay" He said, leaning into Castiel's window, "Just rev the engine when I give the signal!" Dean hopped in the Impala and put the key in the ignition. "Now!" He called out, turning the key, sending the car's engine roaring back to life. "See I told you baby could do it!" He said proudly, running his hands over the dashboard fondly.

He got back out of the car and detached the jumper cables, bringing them back to where Castiel was sitting in his car, grinning to himself at the other man's sheer joy.

"Hey, thanks for everything man, I really owe you one!" Dean said, handing back over the cables.

"It was my pleasure, Dean." Castiel responded with slight amusement in his voice.

Dean started to walk away from the car when he suddenly turned back around. "Hey, tomorrow is my day off, could I swing back by here?" Dean asked.

"Sure, that sounds enjoyable." Castiel replied, surprised at the request.

"Awesome! Thanks Cas, I'll see you tomorrow!" Dean called out, walking back to the Impala.

Castiel watched as the he pulled away.

'_Cas' huh?_ He mused at the nickname.

_Well, see you tomorrow, Dean Winchester. _Castiel thought, smiling to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Of Love and Macbeth, Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hey guys! Here is chapter two of my story! (You finally get to meet the rest of the cast/crew, and some actual PLOT is introduced, Yeeeyyyyy!)

As always, comments/favorites/reviews are very very very welcome!

Disclaimer: I do not /unfortunately/ own any of these characters!

* * *

Sam woke up to the sound of cabinets being loudly opened and closed. Blearily, he climbed out of bed and made his way down the hallway to the kitchen. He rubbed his eye wearily, and saw a miracle.

Dean was up before noon.

From the look of it, it seemed like he was attempting to make something to pass off as breakfast, though given the charred remains of what had once appeared to be eggs; it wasn't going well.

"Dean, what are you doing up, the clock still says A.M.?"

_Crap, he caught me. _Dean thought as he turned to face his younger brother. He was hoping to get out of the house before Sam had noticed; _not that he was doing anything wrong of course, Sammy would just ask too many questions,_ he justified. Nothing weird about hanging out at an old theater on his day off. Nothing at all.

"Oh, uh, I figured I would go for a drive in the Impala, the weather is great today!" He said lamely, of course Sam saw immediately through his poor excuse.

"Dean, it's raining."

_Shit._

"Yeah, well nothing like a good drive in the rain! So, uh, I'll be off Sam! You don't mind cleaning this up for me do you? Okaythanksbye!" Dean yelled as he hurried out the door and jumped into the car, taking off down the street.

Sam looked at where Dean had been standing, seemingly seconds ago. _Well that was strange…._

Dean didn't look in the rearview mirror until he was almost halfway to the theater. It's not like Sam would have minded if Dean told him where he was going, it was just easier than trying to explain_ "hey, remember how I was late getting home? Well my car broke down in front of this old theater in the middle of nowhere, and I met this guy there, so I'm gonna go back hang out with him today, I promise not to get kidnapped or anything!" _It still seemed strange to _him_ when he thought about it!

I mean, it's not like he and Castiel were friends or anything, they had probably spent a total of 15 minutes together, but for some reason he wanted to go back already! _Geeze, what happened to -cool-unattached-one-night-stand-never-call-again Dean Winchester?! _Dean told himself that it was different, after all, those were for relationships and girls and stuff like that, Castiel was just someone he wanted to hang out with, maybe be friends with. Plus he was a dude, it was totally different.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Dean noticed that he had managed to make it to the Theater's street. Pulling up, Dean could see that the neighborhood wasn't nearly as bad as it had seemed in the dark. The area was old, but still pretty well kept. He could make out several other shops and businesses in the surrounding buildings as well. The theater itself was still by far the largest building on the block. In the light, he could make out several floors, and an inscription of the doorway reading "Theatrum Angelorum" which he was able to translate using his few classes of Latin in high school as "Theater of the Angels."

Dean opened the door and walked in, however this time was much different. Unlike last night, the lobby was brightly lit by rows of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, which was vaulted, and higher than Dean had been lead to believe in the dark. The floors and walls were all made out of white marble, walkways covered with thick, red carpets, looking very much like an old palace.

Another thing he noticed was the _noise._ He was immediately assaulted from all sides by the sound of singing, arguing, lines being rehearsed, the sound of saws and hammers and _people_. As he looked around he could see several groups of people moving what looked like bits of scenery and props, as well as sitting in the hallway or walking around. Some paused and looked at him, _probably trying to figure out why he was there,_ and then hurriedly continuing their current tasks.

One such person was a young red-headed girl, who broke off from her group and walked up to Dean.

"Hello, I'm Anna, if you're here to see a show, I'm afraid our next performance isn't for another few weeks, though I could give you a program of our events if you would like!" She said cheerfully. Up close Dean could see she had nice, brown eyes, and seemed very friendly.

Dean realized she was probably waiting for an answer. "No, uh, I met someone here last night, Castiel? He said it was okay if I wanted to stop bye today…" He said awkwardly.

"Oh, you must be Dean than!" She said, eyes glowing. "Castiel told us all about you this morning! And considering the only time he normally talks is to remind somebody about the rules, that's saying something! Anyways, he's probably backstage if you want to follow me!" She said, grabbing his arm and leading him down the hallway before he had a chance to answer.

Anna pulled him deeper into the theater, through enough side doors and passageways to make Dean feel fairly certain he would never be able to find his way out. They passed by countless rooms of people and props, at one point Dean was pretty sure they had passed by the female dressing room, but Anna had pulled him away firmly before he could properly investigate. As they continued downwards the sound got even louder -like Dante's inferno- Dean thought. When they had been walking long enough for Dean to start to think that _maybe_ following a stranger in a place he barely knew was possibly a _bad_ idea, Anna suddenly jerked to a stop in front of yet another door.

Following her through, Dean stepped into what seemed to be a large lounge. There were several large couches and chairs propped around a television, where a group of men seemed to be trying to combine video games, wrestling, and cramming as much candy as possible in their mouths. At another table, he could make out a group of girls prissily checking their hair and makeup in a mirror. Dean saw someone moving in the corner of his eye, and turned to find Castiel walking towards him and Anna.

"Hello Dean." Castiel said gravely. "I am glad you managed to find your way here, thank you for showing him." He said, aiming the last part of his greeting at Anna.

In the light, Dean was able to get a better look at Castiel than he had the night before. He was wearing the same suit, backwards tie, and trench coat that he had been wearing when they had me. Dean could see he was younger than he thought, Deans age, if not a year or so younger, but he had faint worry lines around his eyes. Speaking of his eyes, they seemed even bluer in the light than before, if that was possible….and they were currently staring…right back at him… Dean quickly looked away and at Anna, who eyed them strangely.

"Oh come on Cas, it's not like I would let anything happen to him, especially after you told us so much about him!" Anna teased, ruffling Castiel's already messy hair.

"I did not tell you al-" Castiel's argument was cut off by one of the guys who had been playing video games walking over. He was much shorter than Dean, with brown hair that had been styled back, and golden green eyes. From what Dean could remember, he was the one throwing candy when Dean had walked in.

"Hey there Castiel! Who's your friend?" The man said mischievously, slinging his arm around Castiel's shoulder shoulders, who looked very uncomfortable.

"Hello Gabriel. This is Dean Winchester." Castiel replied shortly, shrugging off Gabriel's arm.

"Ah, Dean-o, we've heard a lot about you!" Gabriel said grinning, "Hey guys!" He called out to the remaining group, "This is Cas' friend Dean, from yesterday!"

The remaining guys from the television came over, three in total. The first was tall and thin, with short blond hair and a slight beard. He was dressed in a v-neck shirt with a band logo, and what looked like designer jeans. "Ah, so you're Dean, nice to meet you. I'm Balthazar" He said coyly, strong English accent tinting his words.

"The one that hates _Titanic_," Dean affirmed, Castiel's comment about the movie from last night finally clicking.

"Oh god that movie, and that song was _awful!" _Balthazar moaned

"Hey it's not all bad, I mean, WInslet's rack?" Dean replied, smirking.

"I like you Dean." Balthazar said, shaking Dean's hand.

The next man took his time introducing himself. Like Balthazar, he was also blonde, though slightly shorter and stockier. Like Gabriel, he seemed like he was up to no good, though in a much more sinister way. He took his time observing Dean, his eyes slowly looking him over. "So you're the famous Dean, happy we met so soon." The man said lazily, though Dean could tell he was much more cunning than he let on. "My name is Lucifer."

Dean choked a bit in surprise. "Seriously, your name is Lucifer? Like, the devil?"

"Hey, we can't all be perfect little angels like Cassie here, can we?" He said smirking. "I agree with you Balthazar, I think we'll keep him." Lucifer said, still staring at Dean.

The final man stepped lightly in front of Lucifer, blocking his view from Dean. He grabbed his hand and shook it sincerely. "I am very pleased to meet you. I am happy that you have befriended Castiel, and I look forward to knowing more about you. From what Castiel has told us you seem like a fine young man. Please do not be a bad influence on my brother." He said. Meanwhile, Castiel was looking like he wished he was able to magically disappear.

Dean looked back at the man, not sure if he was kidding or not. He tentatively shook the man's hand in return.

"I am Michael, by the way. In case you couldn't tell, Gabriel, Lucifer are my brothers. I apologize for their behavior. Anna is our sister, and Castiel is also our brother, and the youngest out of our family."

"Huh, you guys really take the "Theater of The Angel's" thing seriously, don't you?" Dean said surprised. He could have guessed that Gabriel and Lucifer might have been related, but Michael, with his dark hair and eyes, looked nothing like either of them. _He kinda looks like Dad when he was younger_…Dean thought to himself. Dean was also surprised to find out they were all related to Castiel, who seemed much more introverted than his apparent brothers.

"Yes well, it is a family business, and our father had a thing for Theology." Michael explained. "We also have another brother, Raphael though he is not here today. Most everyone who works here is somehow related, either distant cousins like Balthazar, or friends of the family, you can meet the rest of the fam' later!"

"Wow, an entire family of actors. Getting together for holidays must be like civil war, huh?" Dean said jokingly.

His laugh died out as he noticed the grim expressions on each of his companions. The silence stretched out what felt like an eternity.

"Anyways…" He said awkwardly, trying to change the subject. "What are you all currently working on?"

"Oh, well we are between plays right now, we are about to start working on our spring show." Anna said, taking pity on him.

"Wow, so what play are you doing?" Dean said, grateful for the new topic.

"Macbeth."

"The one with that Scottish dude who went crazy and killed everyone?" Dean said, confused.

"Though I don't believe Shakespeare would use any of those terms to describe his literary classic, yes; that is the one." A new voice said from behind Dean.

Dean turned around quickly to see a shorter man smirking at him. He was unshaven and looked like he wouldn't know organization if it hit him in the face. His shirt was stained and un-tucked; the sleeves had splotches on the cuffs from what looked like coffee and ink.

"I am the director, Chuck; and also the owner of this theater." I can see you already met some of my children." Chuck said smiling, and offering one of his ink-stained hands to Dean.

"It's nice to meet you." Dean said a little awed, for the owner he seemed pretty cool, though it looked like his hygiene could use some work. "Wait, did you say you were their _father_? No offense, but you don't look exactly like some fatherly old man or anything."

"Yes, well this _is_ the entertainment business." Chuck answered wryly. "Now, are we planning on getting to work, or are we going to stand around talking, and doing whatever _that_ was?" Chuck announced, with a pointed look at the television are where Gabriel, Lucifer, and Balthazar had been when Dean arrived.

"Of course father" Michael answered solemnly, then raised his eyebrows at his brothers.

"Yeah, whatever" Lucifer said, giving Michael a look before walking out.

Gabriel, Anna, and Balthazar waved goodbye to Dean, leaving him alone with Chuck and Castiel.

"Um, if you guys have work to do I could just come back later…?" Dean offered, looking at Chuck worriedly.

"No." Castiel began loudly, before glancing at Chuck. "He won't be in the way, right father?"

"I don't want to be any trouble, I could help you out if you'd like." Dean added.

"Yes, I do think that's fine. We have work for you I suppose. You and Castiel could clean up the mess down here, then work on cleaning up the auditorium afterwards." Chuck reasoned.

"Yeah, sure, good!" Dean said eagerly, happy he had something to do.

Chuck nodded, then retreated back into a door Dean had failed to notice before, presumably leading to his office.

Dean and Castiel were left alone, staring at each other silently, before Dean broke off eye contact, and coughed lightly.

"Right, well I suppose we can get started then." Castiel said decisively, leading Dean to a janitor's closet where they pulled out carts of supplies.

They worked in silence for a while, picking through the pieces of candy and empty bags of chips.

"Oh god, I don't even want to _know_ what that was." Dean gagged, putting a particularly disgusting item in the trash bag. "Is it always like this?" He asked, looking over at Castiel, who was looking at the mess in disapproval.

"No. Usually it's much worse." Castiel deadpanned.

Dean shuddered at the idea.

"So this is what you do, clean up after them, what are their jobs?" Dean questioned, happy for the conversation.

"Are theater is relatively small. We all have jobs around set, and many double up as actors in the shows as well." Castiel explained.

"Oh, so do you act also, is that why you were saying lines last night? Were you rehearsing?"

Castiel glanced at Dean, embarrassed. He had hoped that the other man would not remember that particular detail.

"No….I just help out backstage." Castiel muttered, looking away from Dean.

Dean wondered why, after all, Castiel seemed like an amazing actor from what he could tell, but he could see the other man didn't want to talk about it, so he let it drop. _Besides, he wasn't one for talking about feelings and shit anyways._

"So what do your brothers all do?" He asked, getting the subject off of Castiel, who looked at him gratefully.

"As you know, Chuck is the director, he also writes some plays of his own, in his free time. Under him is Michael who doubles as the stage manager and actor. Gabriel and Lucifer do lights and sound, and Balthazar is in charge of the props department. Gabriel, Lucifer, Anna, and the three girls who were sitting here earlier all work as actors as well. Then there is Charlie and Becky who are in charge of makeup and costumes, and the rest of the cast and crew, who you might meet later."

Dean whistled, impressed at the number of jobs, he hadn't realized how much work went into doing a play.

"So why'd you guys choose Macbeth?" Dean asked, interested in spite of himself.

"I believe father thought it would serve as a change of pace, pulling off one of the classics instead of some new musical." Castiel shrugged, though Dean thought he could detect a hint of happiness at the change. He seemed like the kind of guy who would love things like old classics, _not that Dean was thinking about that or anything. _

Dean threw a final piece of garbage in the trash bag, and looked around. He must have gotten caught up in their conversation, because the lounge was clean.

He and Castiel finished putting away the bags, then Dean carried their supplies as Castiel showed him the way up to the auditorium.

On stage he could see Michael directing several groups of people through acting warm ups, while catching glimpses of other people he didn't recognize painting scenery and moving props. He could see random lights going on and off on stage, while music would suddenly start blaring over the speakers, so he assumed Lucifer and Gabriel where doing some sort of their jobs…

He and Castiel started at the back of the theater, picking up old pamphlets and sweeping the aisles.

"So explain, what exactly is Macbeth about?" Dean asked Castiel.

"Macbeth is a Scottish noble in the army, and after a particularly glorious battle he is visited by a group of witches that declare he will gain more power and land, and become king. Macbeth doesn't believe them at first, but the king ends up giving Macbeth land as a reward for the battle, and he starts to believe the prophesy. He writes to his wife, Lady Macbeth, who wants the power for herself, and she manipulates him into killing the king for the throne. Afterwards he starts to go crazy from paranoia and begins killing other nobles when he starts thinking they suspect what he has done. He eventually is defeated and is killed." Castiel summarized.

Dean smiled as he watched the other man's eyes light up as he explained the story, more animated than Dean had ever seen him.

"Well that sounds interesting." Dean said, amused.

Castiel looked warily at the taller man, not sure if he was joking or not. "I could lone you a copy of the book if you would like." He said hesitantly.

"Yeah sure, sounds great!" Dean said surprising himself, _after all he doesn't read, especially books written by dried up English dudes like Shakespeare!_

Castiel flashed him a tentative smile, and Dean was struck at how much younger Cas looked when he was happy. Dean tried to resist grinning back.

Meanwhile from the above in the electronics booth, Gabriel and Lucifer could see Dean and their brother talking, Castiel seeming much happier than they had seen him in, well, ever. They traded looks, grinning as they remembered how Castiel was acting when he had gotten home the night before. He walked through the door of their apartment soaking wet, but grinning distantly. When they had pestered him about it, he told them about meeting someone named _Dean_ whose car had broken down in front of the theater (and by "_told them about_" they meant "_went on and on about_" they weren't kidding when they told Dean they had heard all about him.).

The brothers exchanged identical mischievous grins, and continued watching the two interact below them.

Throughout the day Dean continued to meet more members of the staff and cast, and by the end of it, he could almost find his way to the bathroom without getting entirely lost, which was quite the accomplishment in his mind, considering how big the place was.

The day passed in a flurry of activity, and he was surprised when he finally saw what time it was. He said goodbye to everyone, and Castiel handed him a copy of Macbeth before he left.

"So, Dean's nice." Anna said, smiling at Castiel, and shooting meaningful glances at Balthazar, Lucifer, and Gabriel, who all smirked back at her.

Castiel was to lost watching the taillights of the black car disappear down the street to notice.

* * *

A/N: Thank's so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! (I am very sorry about how long it is, I had a lot to introduce, and it ended up getting a little out of hand T.T!)

Feel free to comment/review and suggest any ideas you would like to see, it's always welcome and I will try to see if I can use them if I can!


	3. Chapter 3

Of Love and Macbeth, Chapter 3

Author's Note: Hola Mishamigos~! (haha, sorry) Here's part 3 of the story! Thanks for the follows and faves, it's very much appreciated! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

As always, comments/favorites/reviews are very welcome!

Disclaimer: I do not /unfortunately/ own any of these characters!

* * *

Dean felt restless for the rest of the week. For some reason he couldn't focus, he found himself making mistakes in his work, and he just felt _off _for some reason.

Work had been crazy, and he hadn't been able to return to the theater since his day of on Tuesday, so he had to wait until the weekend, _though that was totally_ not_ why he was feeling like this, I mean sure it was cool to hang out with everyone, but he had only been _once_, how could he be missing a place he wasn't even a part of!_

Dean decided that he would help pass the time by starting on the copy of Macbeth that Castiel had lent him, even though reading a Shakespeare play for fun seemed kinda like a wuss thing to do, _but this one has fighting and killing and stuff, it's totally not the same thing, _Dean tried to convince himself. Quickly he realized his mistake in thinking that it would be easy.

_What freaking language is this guy speaking anyways; no way is this supposed to be English! _Dean threw the book down on the bed in frustration; _he hadn't even made it past the first page of the damn thing!_

He frowned at the book, picking it back up thinking that Cas would be disappointed if he didn't at least try, _though why Dean really cared about that escaped him. _He sighed and opened book, noticing something he hadn't the first time; a name was written across the inside front cover **"Property of Castiel. If found please call number below." **

Dean started when he realized that the copy of the book that Cas had given him was his own copy, maybe even the same one he was reading out of when they had first met. Dean smoothed out one of the pages that he had accidentally bent throwing it, and started flipping through the pages absently. He stopped when he realized that there were small notes next to some of the passages in the book. Reading them Dean saw they were annotations Cas had written, explaining the story, or how he felt about the characters and their actions.

He felt slightly embarrassed going through the book and being able to read Cas' thoughts like that, it seemed intrusive somehow, weirdly personal.

Knowing that it was Castiel's copy made him feel even guiltier about giving up so soon, after all, it was clear Cas really liked it and wanted him to like it also.

He sighed and walked into the living room, where Sam was currently lounging on the couch watching television.

"Hey Sammy, could I borrow your laptop?"

Sam looked up at his brother, annoyed at the use of his nickname. "Don't call me that, and don't touch my stuff without my permission!"

"I am asking permission, geez, you're like an overprotective mother with that thing!"

"Ugh, fine you can use it!" Sam groaned. "Just make sure you delete your web browsing after you look at porn, no one needs to see that!"

"Aww c'mon Sammy, I know you look at it after I'm done!" Dean teased, getting the computer from Sam's bedroom.

Sam just gave Dean his classic "bitch face" as Dean retreated to his own room.

Dean quickly went online, searching for something that could help him understand the stupid play. He eventually found a website that summarized each scene in the book while you read it, putting it into _normal_ English.

With the help of the website and Cas' notes, Dean was able to finish the first three acts that night, which was probably more than he had read in, well, _ever_. As he went on, he was more and more impressed at Castiel's knowledge; not only did he explain what happened, he connected it to other characters and explained _why _they did what they did. Dean was surprised, he could tell Cas was smart before, but turns out the guy was a freaking_ genius_! Dean could barely read it, much less analyze a character's psyche and connect it to "themes and motifs" _whatever those were_…

By the end of the week Dean had managed to finish the entire play. It had started slow, but eventually it got really interesting, like one of the soap operas on TV which he NEVER watched, _no matter what Sam said_…

Unfortunately he was only able to read at night after work had finished, so the days were still torture.

Dean's strange behavior did not go unnoticed by Sam; Dean would look like he had hyped himself up of caffeine all day, then at night he would just lock himself in his room for hours, Sam was pretty sure he didn't go out a single time, which was a sign of the end of times if there ever was one! Not to mention the fact that when he got his computer back from Dean, it said he had been looking up the play _Macbeth_,

_I mean what the hell_?

He also hadn't forgotten about Dean disappearing earlier that week on his day off.

Saturday morning Dean was up early again, headed to the theater. This time he didn't hesitate before opening the doors to the theater, allowing the now-familiar sounds of chaos envelop him. He managed to find his way downstairs (with some help from a stagehand) and was soon in front of the doors leading to the common room. Suddenly nervous, he pulled open the doors to see it was much like when he last visited; Gabriel, Balthazar, and Lucifer were up to something possible illegal and definitely dangerous, Anna was talking to some of the other actresses, and Cas was….

"Hello Dean."

Dean jumped at the sound of his name. He turned around and saw Castiel standing right behind him, majorly invading his personal space.

"Hey Cas" he replied, once his heart rate had slowed down from the scare.

Hearing the commotion, the others looked up and saw Dean standing in the doorway, coming to greet him.

"Hey man, we thought we had already scared you off the other day! Good to see you back!" Balthazar said heartily, clapping him on the back. The others nodding in agreement.

"Sorry about that, work kinda went to hell, and I wasn't able to get any time off." Dean explained sheepishly, he forgot he hadn't told them that he was coming back.

"Well it's no problem, besides it's good having an extra pair of hands to help out!" Anna said cheerfully.

After some small talk, they all divided into their individual tasks for the day, Castiel and Dean in charge of clean up again.

They finished the lounge and took a break before starting on the dressing rooms. They sat in a comfortable silence eating lunch, when Castiel spoke up,

"I did not think that you were going to return." He said sheepishly, not looking at Dean.

"Yeah, I'm sorry man, I guess I should have told you beforehand, huh?" He apologized. "Besides, why wouldn't I come back? It wasn't all that bad."

"Please do not ever repeat that in front of Gabriel and Lucifer, or else they will take it as a challenge, and end up blowing up the East wing again." Castiel said gravely, which made Dean slightly shudder.

"Noted. But other than that, I still had to come back to return your copy of the book anyways!" He said, pulling Castiel's copy of Macbeth out of his bag.

Castiel smiled, taken aback. "You actually read it?" He asked, looking at Dean imploringly.

"Yeah, 'course I did, it was actually pretty awesome! Though I don't think I could have gotten through it without your notes." Dean andmitted.

Castiel quickly looked away from Dean, his ears turning red. "Oh, I-I had forgotten about those. I am sorry if they distracted you from the story." He mumbled, embarrassed.

"No way, they were totally helpful!" Dean claimed. "I wouldn't have been able to make it past the first page without your help, plus it was awesome finding out so much background about the characters, I swear you are like Steven Hawking or something!"

"Well I am glad that you enjoyed it." Castiel said quietly, slightly smiling.

"Yeah, I swear, it was like a movie in your head!" Dean exclaimed.

The spent the rest of the time cleaning talking about the various characters in the story, debating about their favorites and discussing the different scenes. Before they realized, Gabriel was calling down telling them it was closing time.

Dean left, promising to return the next day.

As he left, Castiel's siblings smiled at each other, noticing that Castiel, who had also seemed out of sorts the past week, appeared much happier than he had been, not nearly as moody or quiet, _though with Cas it was sometimes hard to tell._

Over the next two weeks Dean managed to visit the theater several times during the week, and every weekend.

To Sam, Dean seemed like a completely different person, always happy, even giddy; working all day, actually helping out around the apartment, doing everything with a smile and a whistle.

Frankly it was starting to piss Sam off.

Tired of his brother's strange behavior, he decided to follow Dean one of the days that he went to disappear to wherever-he-really-went.

He tailed Dean, following slightly back as the Impala drove through the city, towards one of the more run-down areas. Understandably Sam was very concerned as he watched Dean park the car in the middle of an old neighborhood and get out. Out of one of the larger buildings, some weird guy in a trench coat opened the door and greeted Dean, who followed him inside.

_Danmit Dean, if you're doing something illegal I _will_ call Bobby and have him lock you in the Panic Room. Again._

Sam waited a few minutes before getting out of his car and cautiously walking up to the large door. Placing his ear to it, he could hear the faint sound of voices and loud crashes.

Gathering up his courage, he forced open the door and charged in, only to find himself blinking in suprise at what he saw.

He was standing in a large hallway lit by large chandeliers several floors up. Lookind down it looked like he was standing on some very plush carpet, in the middle of a large hallway-like lobby.

He was deafened by a sudden wave of noise coming from behind one of the main doors in hallway. Attempting to cover his ears, he walked up to the door and opened it.

He was completely still, shock making his feet useless. _This is a…is a…a…._

_Theater?!_

When Sam's brain finally had enough time to properly register this information, he started laughing full out; his bellow booming through the large space of the stage, making everyone turn towards the back where he was standing.

Dean froze in shock from where he was helping a stagehand move a piece of scenery on stage, which ultimately made him drop it on the stagehand's foot. Blinking through the bright lights of the stage, he could make out a ridiculously large figure at the back of the auditorium.

_I know that laugh. Shit!_

Dean ran off stage and down the aisle, grabbing hold of Sam's arm and pulling him back out into the hallway.

"What are you doing here?!" He hissed.

Sam's only response was to go into further hysterics, leaving him gasping for air.

"You're a, a, drama nerd! You're helping out a theater!" Sam managed to gasp between his fits of laughter and falling to the floor.

"Shut up, it's not what it looks like!" Dean exclaimed defensively.

"Oh. My. God!" Sam choked.

"Yeah, okay I get it, shut up!" Dean yelled, clamping his hand over his brother's mouth until he stopped laughing.

"When did this all start?" Sam asked, wiping away tears from laughing.

"Remember when my car broke down two weeks ago?" Dean asked.

Sam nodded at the memory.

"Well I stopped here to look for some help, and I met the crew, I came back to say thanks, and ended up kinda, helping them out…." Dean explained, trailing off as he saw Sam's incredulous look. "What? I was just helping clean and stupid stuff, it's not like I'm actually doing a play or something lame like that!" Dean snapped.

He heard a soft cough from behind him.

Whirling around Dean saw Castiel standing there, not looking particularly pleased with him. "Hello Dean. I was coming to see if you were okay since you left abrubtly, but apparently I am interrupting your conversation with my 'lame' work." Castiel said frostily, making air quotes with his fingers to emphasize the word.

Castiel and Dean stared at each other one angry and one guilty.

"Oi, Dean-o? Are you dead? We saw that giant thing drag you in the hall, and it sounded like you were dying or something!" Gabriel called out, crashing through the doors with Lucifer behind him. "Oh, looks like we're interrupting something." He said, glancing between Dean, Cas, and what could only be described as a crying moose-man collapsed on the ground.

"False alarm Gabriel, looks like just another lovers spat." Lucifer smirked, looking at the two men. "Hmm, looks like someone has a very special guest!" He said, turning towards Sam as if he had just realized he was there. "And who might you be?" He asked Sam, his voice dangerously smooth.

Dean and Castiel looked at each other, fear making them temporarily back on the same side, _because when Lucifer used that voice, _nothing_ good could be coming._

"Uh, Sam. I'm Dean's brother." Sam answered, slightly perplexed.

"Ahh, our very own Dean's precious baby bro, well I'm happy we finally got the chance to meet you." Gabriel responded quickly, reaching out a hand to help Sam up off the floor. Sam took it, standing up at his full height, causing him to tower over the rest of the group.

"Well aren't you a big one?" Gabriel said, gaze slowly traveling up and down Sam's form.

"Yes, you don't bear much resemblance to Dean, do you? I never would have guessed you were the precious 'Sammy' he's told us so much about." Lucifer cut in, also taking his time in observing the newcomer.

Dean and Cas shared a look. _Oh shit_. If there was anything worse than ONE of those two interested in someone, it was BOTH of them interested in someone, and fighting about it. _This was not going to end well._ (Plus the fact that they were practically feeling Sam up with their eyes was NOT making Dean particularly happy).

Sam himself was squirming under the scrutiny as well, shifting uncomfortably.

"So, why did you come here?" Castiel asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Oh, uh, I noticed Dean kept coming here, and I decided to follow him and see what he was up to." Sam said honestly, though he felt slightly bad realizing his reaction had probably insulted the theater workers. It wasn't that he had any problem with them, he was a huge fan of classic literature and all of that, just the idea of_ Dean_ being involved with one seemed outlandish.

"So now that you're here, what do you think?" Lucifer asked, eyes never once leaving Sam.

"Oh, well, I'm not really sure." He responded, still not entirely sure what was going on,_ and who exactly the two men were who kept staring at him?_

"Well in that case, why don't you stay and help out Samsquatch? This place can be pretty, exciting." Gabriel suggested. "I'm Gabriel by the way." He said, shaking Sam's hand.

"And I'm Lucifer." Lucifer said, also holding out his hand.

"Lucifer?" Sam said surprised. "You mean like the-"

"Yep, just like the devil." Lucifer practically purred.

"Oh, well, sure, I don't have anything else to do today I guess.

"Wonderful." Both Gabriel and Lucifer said in unison, sporting identical grins that any smart animal would run away as fast as possible in the opposite direction of. (As it so happened, Sam looked like he had trouble not bolting out of there either; maybe he really was part moose.)

Gabriel and Lucifer both grabbed one of Sam's arms, leading him back through the doors into the auditorium, door clicking ominously behind them.

Castiel and Dean were left alone, slightly shell-shocked. After a minute of staring at the door and straining to hear any possible screaming, Dean and Castiel awkwardly met each other's eyes, their earlier interrupted argument coming back to them.

"Look, what I said earlier, about working here-"Dean began

"Don't Dean, just don't" Castiel interrupted wearily. He had honestly thought he and Dean had become friends, that he had managed to make him see past and accept the whole 'theater' thing. But no, turns out he would just turn on Castiel as soon as the moment came.

"Man, look at me!" Dean said, grabbing Castiel by the shoulders and forcing him to face Dean.

"Look I honestly didn't mean it before. It's just…well….Sam didn't know about it, I wanted to hide it from him. It's not like he would care or anything if I told him, but I…I dunno, I guess I wanted to keep it secret." Dean explained

Castiel could understand about wanting to something just to yourself, especially when someone had a family like his. "So now that he knows, what are you going to do?" Castiel asked, still slightly defensive.

"Well I still want to come back" Dean answered, "I mean if that's okay!" he added quickly. "I guess I've started actually looking forward to it. Coming here is like, I don't know, the highlight of my week or something." Dean said, not looking at Cas while he spoke. _God, where the hell did that chick-flick line come from?!_

Castiel looked in surprise at the larger man, having to consciously fight a smile from taking over his face. Castiel studied Dean as he looked away from him, Dean's green eyes occasionally darting over to judge Castiel's reaction.

"Besides, I don't think Gabriel and Lucifer are likely to let my brother leave, at least, not in one peace." Dean joked, Castiel chuckling quietly.

Their grins quickly faded however, once they realized that _holy crap that might actually happen!_

"Sammy?!" Dean yelled out worriedly, running through the doors of the stage and up to the sound and light booth, Castiel on his heels.

Rushing in, they saw Sam sitting on a chair, looking slightly terrorized as Gabriel and Lucifer continued unashamedly flirting with him.

Dean and Castiel gave each other a quick look, and nodded in agreement at their silent plan.

"Hey Sammy, we need to talk." Dean said, walking over and grabbing his brother before the other two could protest, and leading him out the door. As Lucifer and Gabriel moved to go after them, Castiel moved in their way.

"Aw come on Cassie, it's not fair if you are the only one who gets a hot Winchester!" Gabriel whined.

Instead of answering Castiel moved over to the sound booth, and pressed the intercom button. "Michael, we need you up in the tech booth." He said shortly, knowing that the older brother would be the only one who even stood a chance at potentially controlling them, if even for a minute.

"Oh, I'm going to remember this, little brother." Lucifer promised.

Castiel decided that right then might be a really good time to leave. As he hurried out of booth and down the stairs he saw Michael storming past him in a cloud of righteous, uptight, anger, which usually followed any actions from the two tricksters.

He felt a little guilty.

Dean had managed to get Sam down to the lounge and procured two beers, and Castiel joined them a minute later.

"Oh, hey man!" Sam greeted Castiel as he walked in. "Sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to insult you guys or anything, I was just kind of surprised." He apologized, holding out his hand as a peace offering to the trench-coated guy he had seen with Dean earlier.

"I understand, it is hard to imagine your brother in a place such as this." Castiel admitted. "I am Castiel by the way, sorry for not having properly introduced myself earlier."

"Hey, no problem! I'm Sam."

They shook hands, and Dean was relieved that it had been resolved.

"So, what exactly do you guys do around here?" Sam asked, honestly curious about why Dean continued to return.

"Currently we are preparing for our spring performance in a month. Dean has been helping clean and organize props and such." Castiel explained.

"Oh, well that's interesting…" Sam said confused, _Dean didn't even make his bed at home, much less clean!_ "Well, I already drove out here, could I stay and help out as well?"

"Of course, help is always welcome." Castiel replied.

"Yeah, why don't you stay Sam?" Dean said, slightly bitter. _He was happy spending time with his brother of course, but he didn't necessarily want him around at the theater. It had always seemed like his own thing, you know?_

They grabbed the cleaning supplies and went back upstairs to continue their work.

As the day went on, Sam was introduced to the cast and crew. By the end he looked completely overwhelmed, which Dean had laughed at, before Castiel reminded him that's what he looked like the first day he had come too.

Dean slowly relaxed as he saw that Sam got along with the others as well, actually enjoying his brother's company now. By the end of the day everyone was trading stories (Sam and Dean occasionally punching each other when one told an embarrassing story about the other).

As they packed up, Dean promised to return on his day off on Tuesday, and Sam accepted the offer to come back as well, which Dean was happy about (though he was worried when he saw Gabriel and Lucifer both grinning as well).

That night neither Sam nor Dean could stop talking about the theater and their next visit.

* * *

AN: Hope you enjoyed that! I really wanted to include Sam in the story, (plus I think the idea of Lucifer and Gabriel fighting over Sam would be funny XD!) So...anyways, feel free to message/comment/review with whatever suggestions, and I will try to include it in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Hey guys, here is another chapter of the story! (sorry this one is a littly crazy and silly, this is what happens when I decide to start writing at midnight) Anyways, I hope you still enjoy, and I promise the next one is better!

Also, thank you so much for all the wonderful followers of this story, I love all of you!

As always, feel free to comment/review/ect, it keeps me motivated to write ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, all of them are currently being held hostage by eric kripke!

* * *

Of Love and Macbeth Chapter 4

The next few weeks passed by in a blur, the only points that seemed to stand out were when Dean and Sam would visit the theater in their free time. It almost seemed like a separate world from their real lives. Dean had thought several times about having some of their group over to hang out, but the idea of hanging out with Cas or any of them outside of the theater seemed awkward, _I mean, what the heck would they even talk about, or _do_ for that matter?_

It was Tuesday, again, and Sam and Dean were off to the theater. It was raining out when they left, but by the time they reached the now-very-familiar theater neighborhood the rain had turned into a full out storm, wind and rain pelting the brothers mercilessly as they ran for shelter.

The inside of the theater wasn't much better. Apparently some of the rooms had started to leak on the lower level, and everyone was rushing around trying to stop the water and save any props or costumes from getting damaged.

They fell into their usual pattern as they worked, Dean and Castiel paired up while Sam helped them reach the tops of shelves (and generally tried to avoid being pranked or flirted with by Gabriel or Lucifer, though with little success). Occasionally Balthazar, Anna or some of the other actresses like Ruby or Meg would help out too. Rarely would Raphael or Michael appear, and then it was only to criticize or direct whatever it was that they were doing. Dean never saw Chuck apart from the first day he was there, but Cas had looked practically heartbroken when Dean had made the mistake of mentioning his father's absence, so he avoided that subject.

Working together they managed to stop the major leaks, though they all were all drenched in the process. As soon as one leak was stopped up, another seemed to appear almost instantly. The random geysers, plus the fact that they kept tripping over the buckets of water on the floor (though Castiel suspected certain brothers of his for intentionally moving them in his path) ended up leaving everyone completely soaked through.

Castiel fetched towels for everyone to dry off with, and he and Dean smiled at each other as they remembered the first time they had met, while simultaneously trying to ignore the fact that the water had made their clothes cling to their figures in an _oh-so-distracting_ way.

(Lucifer and Gabriel, for their part, were taking advantage of the situation, using it as an excuse to remove their wet shirts; and were currently trying to convince Sam to do the same.)

After the leaks had been solved, they split up again to help with the rest of the jobs that needed to be completed that day; Castiel, Dean, and Sam were going to help Balthazar start painting the scenery for Macbeth, while the others ran off to complete their various tasks.

They met Balthazar on the large stage, which had been covered with a tarp while several large background pieces were laid out, waiting to be painted.

"You might want to take those off; no one wants to see you cry when you get paint all over your precious AC/DC shirt." Balthazar warned Dean and Sam, who quickly followed his advice and peeling down to their undershirts.

Dean noticed that Castiel hadn't moved, and was in fact staring at Dean.

"Hey, earth to Cas!" he said, waving his hand in front of Cas' face. "Aren't you going to change to?" He asked, motioning to Castiel's usual ensemble of three piece suit and trench coat. Come to think of it, Dean never saw him wear anything else. Does he even own any other clothes? "Come on, you don't want paint on you Columbo outfit, what else would you wear every day?" He joked, tugging at one of Cas' sleeves.

Castiel swallowed uncomfortably, eyes darting to Dean and away quickly. "Couldn't I just put on a smock?" He asked Balthazar, a slight edge of panic in his voice.

"Sorry mate, last I checked Charlie and Becky had used them all for some costume or another." Balthazar apologized. Castiel hesitated, looked at Balthazar desperately. "Just take off the stupid trench coat, that thing's due for a proper wash anyways!" Balthazar insisted, seeing Castiel's reluctance.

Sighing, Castiel took of the trench coat, still slightly damp from the rain earlier, and carefully folded it before handing it to Dean. Afterwards he removed his suit jacket, and dress shirt, lastly untying his standard blue tie.

Dean swallowed hard, looking away from Cas who, even in a t-shirt and slacks, was still wearing less than Dean had ever seen him in, _though why that crossed his mind he had no idea, it was _Cas_ after all, not some hot babe or anything. _Though even Dean had to admit Castiel was better built than he expected. He was still slender, but the absence of his usual too-large suit and coat showed that he was quite in shape.

While Dean was still staring at the transformed figure of his friend, Castiel looked up at Dean, their eyes locking for a long moment, neither being able to look away. Castiel was surprised at Dean looking at him with a strange expression on his face that Castiel wasn't quite able to place.

"Okay ladies; break up the eyesex, it's time to get to work!" Balthazar said briskly, clapping his hands and killing the moment. Sam just smirked over at his brother; by now used to the "profound bond" Dean seemed to share with Castiel (though Dean would probably die before he ever thought of it that way.)

The painted relatively efficiently for a while, completing a good portion of the scenery; however they soon got off track as Lucifer started messing with the stage lights, and Gabriel started blaring "Candyman" through the sound system and singing loudly along.

Dean groaned as Lucifer kept focusing the spotlight on Sam and Gabriel began changing the lyrics to serenade him. "Come on guys, cut it out!" He said, waving his paintbrush up at the tech booth. He heard a gasp behind him and turned, seeing that he had accidentally managed to splatter Sam with paint when he swung his brush around. Dean had just opened his mouth to laugh when a huge streak of blue paint went flying into his face. He sputtered and opened his eyes to see Sam standing there acting _much_ too innocent.

"Oh, that's how you wanna play bitch?" Dean said, dipping his brush into a bucket of green paint beside him.

"That's right, jerk." Sam said in reply, waving his brush in challenge at Dean.

"Waitwaitwaitwait!" Balthazar yelled out, trying desperately to protect the scenery from the inevitable fight before things could get out of hand.

The brothers grinned at each other before they both flung paint at Balthazar.

"Okay. Now it's on." Balthazar growled. An all-out paint war ensued, Gabriel and Lucifer running down to join them a minute later because 'no way was chaos going to happen without them there!'

Castiel, who had managed to avoid getting any paint so far tried to break it up. "Guys, stop! This is not a good idea!" He yelled hoarsely, managing to break into the middle of the group. The fighting paused for a moment, before all five simultaneously fired at the blue-eyed man, coating his white shirt with a rainbow of paint.

There was a tense silence as Castiel tried to brush himself off. He said nothing, then proceeded to walk, very slowly, over to his abandoned paint bucket, and bring it over to the mob.

Castiel looked at them all grimly, as they stared back at him half guilty and half terrified. "Suck it, Assbuts!" He yelled suddenly, sloshing the entire contents of his paint bucket over the others.

They stared at him opened-mouthed for a shocked moment before unanimously breaking into cheers and wild yelling, the fight continuing with even more force than before.

Finally they called a truce, all flopping down exhausted on the splattered tarp, all covered head to toe with paint.

Michael chose that moment to burst into the room, red-faced and heaving with rage, unable to make more than strangled noises at the sight of the mess. Like a bomb exploding, Michael managed to catch his breath, and proceeded to rant them out about everything from making a mess, all the way to Gabriel and Lucifer being a bad influence on their younger brother and 'why can't they be responsible once in their lives?!'

Dean had to admit, he was kind of impressed at Michael's ability to go so long without taking air, though he was pretty sure the guy was going to die of an early heart attack from the way his veins were popping out in his neck.

At the end, they all proceeded to the washrooms to 'try and make themselves look like somewhat proper adults, and not kindergartners who got a hold of the art supplies during naptime' (in Michael's words).

Dean felt someone touch his shoulder, and turned to see Castiel pressing his hand covered in red paint against a previously unstained part of his sleeve, leaving a distinct red handprint on Dean's shoulder.

After they managed to sort of clean themselves up, they joined the rest of the group in the lobby for lunch. After a long argument about what to order ("No Gabriel, candy is _not_ an acceptable lunch!") they finally all decided on ordering pizza.

When the pizzas finally arrived, the delivery boy had to help Michael bring them all in from the rain. As they walked in, Dean noticed Castiel staring at the pizza man and looking _very_ uncomfortable.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Dean asked, concerned with his friends strange behavior.

"It's the pizza man." Castiel replied stiffly.

Behind him, suddenly he heard Gabriel burst out laughing.

"What?" Dean asked, totally confused. "What does that mean?"

Gabriel was in hysterics, in tears from laughing so hard. "It…it's….from…porn!" Gabriel choked out, gasping for air.

"Wait, what?!" The group all yelled in unison, in shock at the announcement.

Taking a deep breath, Gabriel managed to regain his composure. "When Cas was reaching that very-special-age, Michael, being the naïve, overly parental brother that he is, decided someone needed to give Cassie the whole 'birds-and-bees speech." At this point Gabriel broke into another fit of laughter, while everyone else looked terrified at what was coming next.

"Of course little Cas here didn't understand what the hell Michael was talking about, and asked me afterwards. So I showed him a certain video to explain it. This particuallar video happened to include some compromising situation with a pizza delivery boy, and dear Cassie hasn't been able to see one since!" Gabriel finished grandly.

Everyone was speechless, either from laughter (Lucifer and Balthazar), horror (Anna Michael and Sam), or both (Dean).

Castiel, for his part, looked like he was trying to disappear into thin air.

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Michael exploded after managing to regain his ability to talk, lunging at Gabriel like he was going to strangle him. Fortunately Sam and Balthazar managed to hold him back.

Dean noticed that Castiel had managed to slip away during all the commotion.

Dean walked out, noticing that Castiel had managed to make it all the way down the hallway, and out of sight. He decided to look into the auditorium and, sure enough, saw Cas hunched over in one of the seats, reading his copy of Macbeth.

"Hey Cas, you okay?" Dean said softly, though he still managed to catch the other man by surprise.

Jumping, Castiel looked up at Dean, then back down at his book. "I'm fine, Dean."

"Hey" Dean began, sitting down in the row in front of Castiel, and turning around to face him. "You know they were just joking right, it's nothing against you." He said, trying to comfort his friend's obviously hurt feelings.

Castiel looked back at Dean, unwillingly meeting the impossibly-green-eyes again. He sighed, still embarrassed, and pretty angry with his brother for doing that to him, "I just don't understand why Gabriel decided it would be funny to announce that to the whole world." He said embarrassed and upset.

He felt guilty for laughing earlier, he had forgotten how literal Cas took things sometimes, _no wonder the poor guy is upset_!

"That's not it, no one there would actually laugh _at you_ Castiel, we were laughing at Gabriel for being stupid enough to do that. It's not like scarring you for life was funny." Dean explained. "It was just your family having some fun at your expense, Sammy and I do it to each other all the time." He explained.

"It's not that." Castiel began to explain, he knew his family meant the best for him, "It's just, well….I haven't really, you know….had a connection like that with someone before. I haven't ever fallen in love; I don't really understand what it means to be attracted to someone." He explained quietly. "People always go on and on about how great it is, but how do you even know _what_ it is? I've never felt it before and it seems like everyone else has!" He cried, growing agitated and standing up.

Dean was shocked. _He never really thought of Cas as a player or anything, but he thought he would have gotten around with someone, or at the very least had a _crush_ before!_

"Well, I guess I'm really not the best to explain it, feelings and crap are more Sam's area than mine." Dean said sheepishly, _god, how do people know what to respond to something like that_?! "All I know is that no matter if you've fallen in love a hundred times, or never before, it is freaking terrifying every time!"

Castiel looked up confused, most people said it was the 'best thing ever' so why was Dean saying it was scary?

Dean saw Castiel's confused look. "I mean, it's awesome too, though I don't have much experience myself," Dean tried to explain, "it's just the idea of looking at someone and feeling the _need _to be near them, to want to talk to them, or make to them happy, it's overwhelming! I mean, you just think their name and you get a weird feeling in your stomach, like it's trying to do backflips out your throat or something! You watch them constantly, and you need them to be around for you to be happy"! Dean paused his speech, trying to re-find his train of thought. "The point is, the idea of depending on someone that much is a scary thing, and it's hard every time, no matter how experienced you are or not!

"Besides just because you haven't fallen in love yet doesn't mean you never will; and even if you never feel it at all, that's still totally fine. There isn't anything wrong with not falling in love, not everybody does, that doesn't mean you're screwed up or anything!" Dean finished.

He looked up embarrassed when he realized that he had been ranting. _Geez, when did he talk about feelings? Much less give emotional speeches about them!_

Castiel blinked in surprise at Dean's outburst, he hadn't realized that love was anything more than just what the stores wrote on cheesy hearts at Valentine's Day, he never knew it could be so complex or confusing. He was also surprised at Dean's acceptance that Castiel had never fallen in love before. Castiel had always thought he was some kind of freak for not feeling it before, like something was wrong with him, but considering how complex it sounded, no wonder it seemed hard to recognize! He stared in wonder at his friend.

Dean clapped a hand on Castiel's shoulder.

"So, do you want to go back to the group? They probably moved on by now and are laughing at some other stupid thing Gabriel did….speaking of which, we might want to head back and protect Sammy!" Dean said, raising himself out of his seat as well, and looking at Castiel for approval.

Castiel simply nodded at Dean. They walked down the hallway, his mind heavy with what Dean had said about what love felt like. He stared deep in thought at the back of Dean's head. _'Having a weird feeling in your stomach whenever you about them?'_

By the time they got back the others had indeed moved on, now laughing at Lucifer and Gabriel trying to see how many things they could throw at the back of Michael's head before he exploded again.

They finished eating and started working on cleaning up the mess on the stage for the rest of the afternoon.

As Sam and Dean were leaving for the day they heard an announcement over the sound of the PA system turning on. Everyone stopped eand looked up, waiting for the announcement.

"_Hello all, this is Chuck. I am announcing that I have decided to schedule the auditions for Macbeth in one week. Please prepare appropriately."_

Everyone suddenly seemed at full attention as Chuck's voice crackled through the speakers. Once it was over they all starting talking at once about potential audition monologues and what roles they wanted to try out for.

Amidst the chaos of preparation, Sam and Dean left, Dean saying they would return that weekend.

* * *

A/N: Sorry that chapter was so cracktastic, I wanted another chapter about the usual-theater-life before I luanched into the next part of the story! I still hope you enjoyed it! (I promise the next one will have more to do with plot!)

I also appologize for Dean's awkward attempt at feelings talk with Cas, its a little rambling and doesn't make much sense now that I look back on it, but I hoped you could still understand it?


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, thanks for being (somewhat) patiant with me ;D! (I will try my best to keep it more regular, my life has gotten a little crazy this last week though!)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Its audition time~!

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, or Macbeth for that matter

* * *

Of Love and Macbeth, Ch. 5

Dean woke up that Saturday feeling nervous. Neither he nor Sam had been to the theater since the announcements had been made about the auditions. As they pulled up to the familiar alley, the brothers looked at each other for a long moment before getting out of the car and walking in.

The theater itself was just as crazy as usual, however now the atmosphere was charged with anxiety. Everyone they passed as they walked down to the lounge was buzzing with nervous energy as they rushed to their tasks.

The lounge itself was no better, as Sam and Dean walked in, they saw the usual crew, though without the usual mass of candy and destruction. Instead everyone was off in their own space, looking over lines or quietly rehearsing monologues. Gabriel and Balthazar were reading lines on the couch, while Anna rehearsed with Meg and Ruby in the corner; even Lucifer seemed to be taking it seriously as he looked over a copy of the play. They looked up to greet the brothers, but quickly went back to what they were doing.

Sam went over and sat on the couch while Dean looked around for Castiel, frowning when he didn't spot him. He walked out, trusting Anna to look after Sam, and started searching for Castiel. After checking a few other places, he eventually found him upstairs, cleaning up behind the stage.

"Hey man!" Dean greeted.

Castiel jumped, not hearing the other man enter. "Oh, hello Dean."

"What you doing up here Cas? Seems like everyone else is off rehearsing for the auditions Friday." Dean asked, wondering why Castiel was working instead of preparing.

"I am not going to audition." Castiel answered shortly, turning his back to Dean.

"Wait, what? Why not!?" Dean asked, confused. He figured Cas had already finished or something like that, considering he already knew the play practically by heart. It never crossed his mind that Castiel wasn't going to try out.

"I told you the first time we met, I am a stagehand. I don't act." Castiel replied coolly.

"Dude look at me." Dean said, grabbing Castiel by the shoulder and making him turn around and make eye-contact. "Why the hell wouldn't you act? You love this stuff! Don't try to deny it!" He said quickly, cutting off Castiel who had tried to protest. "Besides, everyone else who acts helps out backstage, why can't you do both too?"

"I would just be in the way. They already have Michael and my other brothers to act…they do not need me." Castiel answered still trying to avoid looking at Dean.

"That's bullshit." Dean said resolutely.

"Just let it go, Dean." Castiel said, becoming upset.

"No! You're being stupid Cas!"

"I'm telling you, it's not happening!"

"And I'm telling you, that's BULLSHIT!"

Castiel let out a cry of frustration, angrily stomping away from Dean.

"I could never go on with them, I'm not good enough! They are all ten times more talented than me; and I would rather not humiliate myself in front of my family!" Castiel cried, turning around at Dean, upset.

The two stood staring at each other for a long moment, breathing heavily.

"Fine. Whatever." Dean said tightly. "You don't think you're as good as them, you're wrong. You could kick their asses. The only reason you don't is because you're too afraid to put yourself out there! Who cares if you look stupid? I bet your family would be happier that you tried than sitting back here because you are too much of a coward to face them!"

Dean looked at Castiel, who looked slightly shocked. "I know you love it. I remember that night we met. You were rehearsing because you though no one was around to see because you were too scared of what others might think if you were yourself in front of them. And let me tell you;you were freaking **fantastic**." Dean took a breath and Castiel looked up at him, shocked.

"So don't stop just because you're worried about what they think, do what makes you happy. Dean finished sincerely.

Castiel looked up at him, meeting the steady, green eyes.

The silence stretched so long, Dean began to think he went too far.

"Okay."

Dean looked up at Cas in surprise.

"I'll do it." Castiel swallowed hard. "I-I will audition."

Dean grinned, Castiel giving him a weak smile in reply,

.

Over the next few days, Dean took every opportunity he had off of work at the theater, helping Castiel prepare. Castiel was still too afraid to perform in front of his brothers, so they usually went up to one of the penthouse boxes in the theater, or one of the empty prop rooms to rehearse.

At first Castiel was always nervous, even performing with just Dean there, watching him; however he had always been able to loose himself in words, and would slowly find himself sinking into character as he read the lines.

Dean himself was pretty awestruck, he knew that Cas was good, from the little he saw that first night, however he hand't realized just how incredible Castiel truly was. At first he seemed a bit awkward acting, however, at some point, an almost imperceptible change seemed to come over him, and suddenly Castiel was no longer Dean's awkward stagehand, he was a prince, a king desperate for power, trying to defend his title.

Dean was actually surprised how easily Cas seemed to slip into the role of Macbeth, someone he never dreamed his friend could be like. When he asked Castiel about it, all he said was

"I can connect with him for some reason. He is thrown into a situation with new power and command, and he makes a mistake. And he spends the rest of the play slowly spiraling downwards as he tries to cover up his betrayal. I don't know, for some reason I can understand him…" Castiel answered gravely, looking like he could relate.

Dean didn't know how to respond.

.

Meanwhile Dean and Castile's often disappearances didn't go as unnoticed as they believed.

One day Sam found himself being surrounded by Balthazar, Gabriel, Lucifer, and Anna.

"Hey, uh, what's going on guys?" Sam asked, concerned. He was used to being harassed by Gabriel and Lucifer, but usually he could count on the other two to back him up.

"Please tell me you are slightly less oblivious than your so-called brother, and can figure out that he and Castiel are totally making moon-eyes at each other." Balthazar began seriously.

"Wait, are you talking about Dean?" Sam asked in surprise.

"Someone give Sam-sqwatch a medal!" Gabriel shouted, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation

Anna cut in, giving her brothers a sharp look. "All that we are saying is, that our brother certainly seems to be happier since Dean has joined us. And we have made some…observations that lead us to believe that their "profound" friendship might be on a deeper level." She said delicately.

"I knew it!" Sam cried triumphantly, jumping up excitedly. "I thought it was just in my head! Oh, I knew Dean had the hots for him!" Sam celebrated.

The group looked at him in shock.

"Wait, you figured it out already?" Anna asked, mouth agape.

"Well, duh! They're practically undressing each other with their eyes every time they're in the same room!" Gabriel pointed out.

"So what do we do now?" Lucifer drawled, causing everyone to go silent, thinking.

"I hadn't gotten that far." Sam finally admitted sheepishly.

"Exactly, which is why you need me." Lucifer explained lazily. "Do you think Dean honestly has feelings for my little bro?" He asked, face suddenly very close to Sam.

"Yeah. I mean, I haven't seen him like this about someone in, like, forever." Sam admitted, leaning away from Lucifer, who was still invading his personal space.

"And Cassie would be the last to admit he likes someone. Ever. I don't think the guy even knows what it means!" Balthazar cried.

"Well if he's stubborn, than Dean is a thousand times worse! He's not gonna admit he actually has feelings that aren't involved in a one-night-stand, and definitely not on a _guy_!

"Personally, I am more optimistic." Lucifer explained, lazily strolling around the group like a cat around mice. "I just think they need the right _push_." He purred.

"Oh, and what do you have in mind?" Anna asked, raising an eyebrow at her brother.

Lucifer stopped and looked at her. "Don't ask me, I can't do all this on my own!" He shrugged.

The group let out a groan of frustration.

"Can't we just lock them in a closet until they make out or something?!" Gabriel cried.

"If they were going to hook up in a closet, don't you think they would have done it by now? They've had plenty of opportunities every time they've snuck off this week."

"For the record, some magical things can happen in those dressing rooms." Gabriel said, wiggling his eyebrows at Sam.

"Maybe if we just leave them alone, something will happen." Anna suggested. Seeing the stares from the other members she just sighed. "Well, I figured it was worth suggesting. If we're going to do this, we have to do it right. This is going to take some time."

.

The week came and went, before anyone realized, it was Friday morning. Sam and Dean went through their normal morning routine in silence, both affected by the increased stress and nerves of the troupe that week.

They walked into the theater and headed straight to the auditorium, where all the cast and crew had gathered in the seats except those who were auditioning, who were backstage. In the front row, Chuck had set up a small desk, which he was to watch the auditions from.

They sat down with Becky and Charlie, who were in charge of makeup and costumes. Charlie handed Sam and Dean a list of the order that the auditions were to be in.

As luck would have it, Castiel was last.

Dean groaned in frustration. After every person finished auditioning, they would join the crowd in the audience, and if Cas was last, than the entire troupe would be watching him. "Freaking perfect." Dean muttered angrily. If Castiel got nervous in front of just him, than this was _not_ going to be easy.

Dean's companions looked at one another (they had been picking up on the vibes between him and Castiel as well). "It's interesting that Castiel is auditioning this time, he's never tried out for a show before." Becky offered.

Dean just gritted his teeth nervously.

Simultaneously Becky, Charlie, and Sam all rolled their eyes.

"You know, Chuck's not going to smite you or anything if you want to go talk to Cas before the auditions start." Charlie said dryly.

"Yeah, I'll just go check on him, whatever." Dean said, trying to sound casual, and walked off.

The three watched him leave, and all rolled their eyes at each other again.

.

Dean found his way backstage, the tense atmosphere making him even more nervous. Finally he found his way to Castiel, who was sitting absolutely still, staring off into space.

"Hey, earth to Cas." Dean said, waving his hand in front of Castiel's face.

Cas glanced at him, eyes darting away quickly.

"Dude, you feeling okay?" Dean said, worried at the slightly green hue Castiel's face was taking.

"I believe I am going to be ill." Castiel answered voice croaky.

"Uh-uh. No way am I letting you get sick on my watch. Hey, look at me!" Dean said seriously, looking his friend in the eyes. "Just don't overthink it. You've done this a thousand times."

Castiel nodded tensely, and Dean could tell he didn't believe him.

Dean sighed and sat down beside him. "Well, if these are your last hours on Earth, how do you want to prepare?" He asked.

"I believe consuming copious amounts of alcohol generally tends to help in these situations."

"Woah, slow down man. Friends don't let friends audition drunk." Dean joked, and was rewarded by a tight smile from Cas.

"Seriously though, you'll do fine. I will be right in front of you, just tune everybody else out, okay?" Dean said, patting Castiel on the shoulder.

Castiel looked up at him, his blue eyes filled with something Dean couldn't quite recognize. For some reason he felt himself lean in towards Castiel, turning his head slightly as he drifted forward….

"_Will the first auditions please line up stage left, and prepare to enter. All audience members should return to their seats now." _

The announcement blared over the intercom system, causing Dean and Castiel to jump.

Dean sprang up, said a hurried 'good luck' to Casiel, and rushed back to the auditorium.

Castiel looked after him, confused.

.

Dean got back to his seat just in time for the first audition, who happened to be Michael. He was also auditioning for Macbeth, and Dean watched attentively, trying to see Cas' competition. Michael was amazing, but Dean didn't feel the same thrill he did when Castiel read the lines.

The next hour of auditions blurred together. Occasionally Dean looked up to watch his friends perform, but mainly it seemed to rush by until there was only Castiel left.

By this time the auditorium was filled with the actors who had finished their auditions and came to watch the rest. The room buzzed with relief, and peaked to interest as Castiel walked out.

As Castiel walked onstage, he heard the room go silent as everyone turned their focus to him. For a second everything went blurry, and he started to panic, vision blurring as he searched desperately through the crowd for one particular face.

There.

He spotted Dean in the center, a few rows back from the front, sitting with Castiel's siblings, as well as Sam and a few other crew members.

He caught Dean's eye, who gave him an encouraging thumbs up.

Castiel took a shaky breath, than launched into his monologue.

.

Dean had to admit, when Castiel first started speaking it was a little rough, his usually gravelly voice high and breathless; however as he continued, Dean saw the familiar shift as Cas got into the character. It was almost like he became a completely different person, he shivered off his 'Castiel' persona, and now was Macbeth, a powerful Scottish noble.

Dean looked around, slightly smug, at the expressions on the crowds faces; who at first were half-heartedly watching, and now where completely absorbed watching Castiel, some even had their mouths open in shock.

He turned his attention back to Castiel, as his monologue reached the climax.

_Is this a dagger which I see before me, _

_The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee; _

_I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. _

Castiel addressed the space in front of him, and Dean could practically make out the dagger Macbeth was hallucinating.

_Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible _

_To feeling as to sight? or art thou but _

_A dagger of the mind, a false creation, _

_Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?_

Castiel continued, his voice picking up volume as he continued to the end.

_I see thee yet, in form as palpable _

_As this which now I draw. _

At this, Castiel drew the prop dagger he had been given, and looked everything like the real Macbeth, headed to kill the king.

Suddenly, Castiel dropped his arm, finishing the scene and releasing the character.

The crowd was absolutely silent, still in shock. Dean himself was finding it hard to snap out of the illusion as well, an awestruck expression on his face.

Castiel was pretty sure he was going to throw up. _He had expected at least some kind of reaction, not this silence! He must have really embarrassed himself if even Lucifer and Gabriel weren't laughing at him_! He made a not-so-graceful bow, and hurriedly walked off stage.

As he exited backstage, he was immediately greeted by Dean standing in front of him, followed by his siblings. _Crap. He _knew _he should have taken the back door._

"I was just leaving." Castiel muttered weakly, trying to squeeze through the crowd and hide himself. He was stopped by a ginormous wall of person, also known as Sam, who purposefully blocked his path. Sighing, Castiel turned around to face Dean, not wanting to look up and see Dean's disappointment at his horrible performance.

Dean just grinned hugely, consuming Castiel in a bone-crushing hug.

"Dude, that was freaking amazing!" Dean cheered, letting a very-confused Castiel go.

"What?" Castiel asked, stunned. He turned and looked at the small group, who were all looking at him proudly.

"Congratulations Castiel, that was very good." Michael said, beaming at his younger brother.

"Yeah, who knew that little Cassie had it in him!" Gabriel declared, ruffling Castiel's already-messy hair.

Anna hugged him, and the others nodded approvingly.

Castiel felt his face heat up, not used to all the attention and praise, and quietly grinned in spite of him.

Dean watched Castiel as he reacted to the news, something swelling in him as he watched Castiel become flustered with the approval. He full-out smiled as he met Castiel's gaze, squeezing his shoulder in congratulations.

The rest of the day, everyone celebrated that the auditions were over, while Chuck disappeared in his office to work on the cast lists, which were going to be posted the next day.

Sam and Dean stayed at the party for a while, finally arriving home late that night.

.

The next morning they woke up early, practically speeding towards the theater, and sprinting inside, where a small crowd had formed at the base of the callboard in the lobby.

They heard footsteps approaching, and saw Chuck slowly making his way to the board, cast list in hand. The crowed parted to let him through, quickly surging forwards once he carefully tacked the list in place.

Sam and Dean fought desperately to the front of the mob to catch a glance at the list.

**Macbeth**

Performed by the Theatrum Angelorum

**Macbeth** Castiel

**Lady Macbeth **Naomi

**Macduff** Michael

**Banquo** Lucifer

**Malcolm** Gabriel

**King Duncan ** Raphael

**Fleance** Adam

**Lady Macduff **Anna

**Hecate ** Lilith

**Porter ** Balthazar

**Murderers** Rachel, Zachariah, Uriel

**Witches** Meg, Bella, Ruby

The crowed buzzed with excitement over the results.

Sam and Dean walked over to their usual group, who waved them over.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting cast list." Anna said as they approached.

"Yeah, seems like the addition of Cassie really shook things up!" Gabriel added.

Seeing their looks of confusion, Balthazar explained, "Generally Michael is the main character, seeing as he is the eldest. The fact that dad chose Castiel as the main character his first time is odd."

"It's also weird that Michael doesn't kill me this time." Lucifer added. "For some reason I always end up being the bad guy that he tries to defeat. I have no idea why." Lucifer shrugged while everyone else just looked at each other.

As for Castiel himself, he was silent, sitting slightly apart from the group. He looked up Dean approached him.

"Well, this is going to be fun!" Dean said happily, and Castiel smiled nervously in return.

_It's going to be interesting alright…._

* * *

**AN:** Tadaaaa! I hope you enjoyed that! (btw I chose each character as their role in the play for a specific reason, can you guess why? ;)

Also, if any of you aren't familiar with the story/characters in Macbeth here is a summary: .

and a character list . You don't have to really know the story of it, but it might help just in case I reference it more in future chapters!


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note: heeeeeey everyone! How's it goin'? Here's the next part of the story, in which there is enough fluff to probably make you want to punch a wall in order to feel manly again! (just kidding, hopefully you enjoy it though!)

Disclaimer: Unfortunatly I do not own Supernatural, Macbeth, or any of the characters. (though by the end of this story I will own you, dear readers XD!)

* * *

Of Love and Macbeth Ch. 6

Since the casting announcement had been made, things at the theater had gotten increasingly more hectic with learning lines and blocking, not to mention things like props and costumes. As the days went by and the date of the performance got closer, it only got worse.

The worst part of all seemed to be the rehearsals. While everyone genuinely seemed to be doing their best, it was hard to keep everyone focused, and the littlest thing was able to derail the rehearsal; it didn't help that Lucifer and Gabriel took it upon their selves to be the cause of most of these _distractions_.

Technical difficulties, prop and costume failures, and rehearsal derailments added with the every-impending opening night lead to a very intense atmosphere, like a bomb primed to explode any second.

Speaking of exploding….Michael and Lucifer seemed to argue constantly; Lucifer pulling a prank, Michael yelling at him to do as he says, Lucifer yelling back about how Michael is not his boss and "needs to stop acting like freaking dad", which usually lead to more yelling about their individual father-issues.

Most of the time Dean and Sam tried to ignore it; and after a while even Gabriel stopped pulling pranks and tried to get his brothers to stop.

On one such occasion, after a particularly bad fight that lead to both Lucifer and Michael storming out angrily, Sam noticed that Gabriel was missing again. Concerned, he tried looking for him in the lounge, but it was empty. After a few minutes of searching the lower levels, he decided to check in the tech booth.

Cautiously opening the door, he looked into the dark room. Flipping on the lights, he saw Gabriel sitting in one of the chairs in the corner, wearing headphones, which Sam could hear music blaring loudly from.

"Hey Sammich." Gabriel said cheerfully, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

Sam pulled over a chair, and sat across from the shorter man.

"You know, I used to hide in my room whenever my dad would start to fight." Sam said suddenly. Gabriel looked up at him sharply before quickly covering the shocked expression with a smirk.

"What was that? Sorry Sammy, can't hear you!" Gabriel said loudly, pretending to rock out to his music.

Sam reached over and smoothly unplugged the earphones from the iPod.

"Hey!" Gabriel said indignantly.

Sam continued like nothing had happened. "My mom died when I was just a baby, I don't remember it but Dean does. Anyways, afterwards my dad used to get drunk a lot, help with the pain or something. After that he would start picking fights, usually just arguing with Dean about something or another." Sam looked over at Gabriel who was looking at him gravely. "I used to hate it. I would go and hide myself in my room, or the bathroom if we were staying in a motel. I would lock the door, plug my ears, and trying to block it out. I don't know if it really helped or not, but I couldn't stand watching my family fight.

"Of course, as I grew older, I started fighting with my dad too, it got pretty bad once, and I left for college. I didn't hear from him or Dean for almost 2 years." Sam smiled ruefully at the thought. "I guess I was still trying to run away."

"That was a nice and depressing story Sammy, but I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Gabriel said firmly, looking away.

Sam sighed. "Look, all I'm saying is that hiding doesn't help anything. If you want them to stop, you're going to have to face your brothers and do something about it yourself."

There was a long silence.

"And what would you have me do?" Gabriel whispered hoarsely.

"Honestly I don't know. But they're your family; I don't think they want to make you unhappy any more than they actually want to fight themselves." Sam answered. Gabriel looked over at him, and smiled weakly, pain in his eyes.

Sam reached over and squeezed Gabriel's shoulder comfortingly, and left; leaving Gabriel to his thoughts.

.

Meanwhile, Dean was dealing with his own emotional crap.

Since the cast was announced, Dean had showed up almost every day to help out, but there was only so much he could do to help the actors onstage.

Castiel was the worst, especially. He was certainly more confident performing, and now slipped into character with ease; however the stress of being the lead role, as well as the stressed atmosphere was beginning to wear on him as well. He was constantly rehearsing, onstage or off, and he was starting to drag from exhaustion, which was making Dean worry.

Dean could attest for the work levels, he himself had been working nonstop on repairing broken props and make paint. He had probably said a total of five words to Castiel in a week, and he wished he was able to do more for his friend who was clearly starting to suffer from the high demands.

Luckily for them, Anna suggested that everyone take a break from rehearsing that afternoon, which everyone accepted, exhaustedly.

Everyone gathered in the lobby for lunch, chatting and relaxing. Dean and Cas sat with their usual group of Balthazar, Anna, Lucifer, Sam, and Gabriel. Dean noticed that the last two seemed oddly quiet, and Gabriel appeared to be deep in thought. Dean recognized that look. It usually meant Sam had just had an emotional chick-flick talk with someone, and now they were thinking about emotions and other angst-y stuff like that. He decided to steer clear and hope he didn't end up getting involved.

After the break, everyone returned to work, this time in a much better mood than before.

.

Castiel was directed to costuming downstairs, and Dean, having completed his tasks for the day and with nothing better to do, followed.

The costume department was a huge room filled with racks of clothing, the wall lined with mirrors and salon-style chairs for hair and makeup.

As they entered, they were greeted cheerfully by Charlie and Becky, who were in charge. When he first met them, Dean was confused at what the somewhat-computer-obsessed girls were doing at the theater, but after seeing some of the costumes that they made doing something called 'LARP-ing' he was more than a little impressed at their skill.

"Castiel, good you could make it!" Charlie said. "And Dean too, good to see you!" Charlie added happily. Since she and Dean met, they immediately had seemed to get along.

"Hello Dean. Is your brother not with you?" Becky inquired in a not-so-casual way. Dean rolled his eyes mentally. He liked Becky, but she could be a little obsessive over Sam.

"I believe Sam was commandeered by one of my siblings. I apologize that you will have to make due with Dean and myself." Castiel answered flatly, and Dean had to suppress a grin at Becky's expression.

"That's perfect, actually. We need to do measurements and fitting for Cas' costume, and we can use you too!" Charlie announced. "We haven't been able to get Michael offstage for long enough to properly fit him for his costume, and you and him are roughly the same size!"

"Oh don't be a baby!" Charlie added, seeing Dean's irritated look at having to do more work. "All you have to do is stand still when it's your turn." She explained exasperated.

Dean groaned. "Fine, whatever. What do I do first?"

"Just sit down over there, you're after Cas."

Dean did as she said, and sat down in one of the many surrounding chairs.

Charlie turned to Castiel. "Okay, take off the trench coat and suit." She ordered abruptly.

Castiel stared at her, clearly reluctant.

Charlie sighed. "Look; we can't get accurate measurements over all that bulk, and unless you want your stockings falling down the middle of opening night, I suggest you do as I say. Now, are you going to make this easy, or am I going to have to get my mace?" She said commandingly.

Castiel chose the easy way. A few minutes later he was just wearing his undershirt and slacks, much like the day of the paint war.

Dean found himself forcibly making his head turn away when he realized that he was staring. He looked away, though quickly finding himself glancing back over towards Cas and Charlie.

Castiel stood arms out and legs apart as Charlie wrapped her tape measure around his bicep, chest, waist, calf, thigh…Dean was suddenly _very_ happy Charlie wasn't interested in guys…_just because it would be awkward; it wasn't like he was _jealous_ or any ridiculous crap like that._

Once Charlie had finished measuring, Becky came back out with an armful of fabric. When she laid them on the ground, Dean could see they were bits of costumes.

"We weren't able to get new costumes this year, so we have to piece them together from our old ones; which is why we measured Cas, so we can tailor the pieces to his size." Charlie explained.

"It's a shame we have to stick to the time period too; I bet you would look great in a nice fitted tux, Castiel." Becky said, slightly disappointed.

Dean had to admit, he agreed with her.

Charlie handed the garments to Castiel, and told him to put them on, directing him to one of the changing screens.

"I wish he would let us tailor his clothes, I have no idea why he insists on poorly fitting suits and that trenchcoat!" Becky whispered conspiratorially to Dean.

"He would have to fight girls off tooth-and-claw." Charlie agreed. "Though I don't think he would necessarily enjoy that. She speculated.

Dean clenched his teeth at the idea of girls throwing themselves on Cas. What Charlie and Becky were saying was true, even he had to admit that Cas was practically a model even with the too-big clothes, but the idea of some skank draping herself across his friend however, made him uncomfortable. _I mean, the poor guy doesn't even know what attraction i_s,_ much less how to handle some chick throwing herself at him!_

Charlie and Becky traded smirks when they noticed Dean's reaction. Anna had told them about the other's thinking that Castiel and Dean liked each other, (not that Charlie and Becky _totally_ hadn't already figured that out themselves) and they were totally onboard with operation let's-get-cas-and-dean-together.

A few moments later, Castiel emerged, wearing the costume. It consisted of a loose white shirt that tied at the neck and had puffy sleeves. Over that was a tunic made from rich, black fabric and tied with a belt. He had a pair of loose, dark, trousers, and blood-red cape. The whole thing was adorned with silver trim.

They stared for a brief moment, in awe at Castiel's transformation.

Charlie coughed. "Right, so fitting." She grabbed a box of sewing pins, and began pinning the clothes to better fit Castiel.

"Okay Dean, you're turn!" Becky said. Dean sighed, taking off his jacket, and standing there in his t-shirt while she began measuring him like Charlie had done to Cas earlier. It was slightly uncomfortable having Becky measuring him like some damn piece of meat.

"Whoa, watch it girly!" He warned, jerking back when Becky got too close to his upper-thigh-zone. "Buy a guy dinner first!"

Becky rolled her eyes at him. "Don't flatter yourself Dean, I prefer my men taller."

Suddenly, they heard a quick gasp of pain from Castiel. Dean looked over quickly, and saw him rubbing his arm, where Charlie had apparently pricked him with one of the pins.

"Crap Cas, I told you not to move!" Charlie clucked as she repositioned and pinned the fabric.

"My apologies." Cas said embarrassed. He had found his body reacting without his consent when Becky had been measuring Dean. _It was bad enough that he had been staring at Dean in the first place._ He repositioned himself so Charlie could finish hemming, and everyone resumed their work.

Charlie soon wrapped up with Castiel, and he changed back into his normal attire. Dean was handed a pile of clothing and changed into them behind the screen. He had been handed a loose shirt, just like Cas' exept it was cream, and a simple, forest green tunic and brown breeches. His was slightly decorated, but much more simply than Castiel's.

He walked out, and Charlie began to pin his. "Thanks again for doing this, Dean." She smiled.

"Eh, it's no problem. Lucky for you guys I'm the same size as Michael, huh?" Dean responded. "Though I always liked to think I was a bit taller." He smirked.

Charlie just smiled.

.

That night, Castiel cornered Balthazar as they closed up the theater.

"Hullo Cassie, what can I do for you?" Balthazar quipped.

"I wish to speak with you. Privately." Castiel stated gravely.

Balthazar was puzzled, Castiel was never one for much conversation, it was especially weird that he wanted to speak to Balthazar in private. Shrugging, he followed Castiel to the now-empty lounge.

Balthazar plopped down on one of the couches, propping his feet up on a nearby table. "So, what is this all about?"

Castiel paced agitatedly. He would start to open his mouth to say something, then quickly closed it, thinking better of it. "I-I believe I might be experiencing what is commonly referred to as…"feelings" for someone." He muttered at last.

Balthazar whistled. He was perfectly aware of the possible feelings between Castiel and Dean, but he never expected that either of them would ever notice, much less confront the idea.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that little fact, actually." He informed Castiel, who looked up quickly, surprised.

"You are?" Cas asked, voice rough.

"Yeah well, you and Dean aren't exactly being subtle. Though I never thought you would figure it out this soon, good for you." He said, cheerily clapping the shell-shocked Castiel on the shoulder.

"I-we-uh-wait-huh?!" Castiel sputtered, for once absolutely at loss for words. "How did you know?"

"Well let's see; you stare at each other constantly, you're with him every second he's there, and when he's not you pine like some teenage girl. Not to mention you talk about him constantly! I'm pretty sure you talked more in the last few weeks than you have in your entire life combined!" Balthazar exclaimed. "Honestly, we were all surprised you two haven't hooked up yet. It's pathetically obvious you two like each other!" He stopped his tirade as Castiel sat across from him tiredly.

"It's not like that." Cas began sadly. "Dean doesn't feel the same way." He looked down at his hands, the picture of defeat.

Balthazar stood up angrily. "Earth to Cas! That guy is over-the-freaking-moon for you! I mean, do you really pay attention?" Seeing Castiel's blank look he let out a frustrated cry.

"It's like a bad romantic comedy!" He cried, then sat back down, pinching the bridge of his nose from the oncoming headache. "Look, even if everyone and their mother couldn't see it already, we talked to Sam."

Castiel looked up suddenly and Balthazar was almost sick from the sudden flash of all-consuming, raw, _hope_ that briefly flared in Cas' eyes.

"Exactly. And you know what he said? He thinks Dean likes you too, okay? That enough for you?"

Castiel stared, wide-eyed, at his brother. "So what do I do?" He finally whispered quietly.

Balthazar sighed. He hadn't realized just how inexperienced Cas was with this whole thing. "All I can say is, if you really like him, make your move; because that thick-headed idiot is not going to ever admit it to himself otherwise." He advised. "Also, whatever you do, I suggest you make it fast. Our dear siblings are trying to cook up some ridiculous love-connection thing, and I don't think you want to be a part of that." He added seriously.

Castiel nodded gravely, and turned to leave.

"Thank you, Balthazar." He added solemnly, and left.

Balthazar watched him leave, and sighed. _He was definitely going to need an aspirin._

* * *

_AN: Yeah, that's right Cas, confront your feelings! Whoo hoo! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter should be up in a few days! Reviews/faves/follows are always much appreciated!_

_also, if anyone would like to try and draw what they imagine Cas and Dean's outfits/anything about the theater looks like, I would most likely cry from happiness! lol_

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	7. Chapter 7

Of Love and Macbeth Ch. 7

Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for waiting! Here is Chapter 7! I really hope you enjoy it, and feel free to comment/fave/follow/whatever! (It helps me write faster;) )

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, or Macbeth, or else this story would be cannon!

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* * *

Over the next few days, Dean noticed that Castiel was acting strange, well…stranger than normal.

At first he tried writing it off as simply being nervous about the performance, which was only a little over a week away now, and was screwing with everyone's nerves and tempers. However, Cas never seemed to act weird when he was performing, or when Dean saw him with the other cast and crew members.

He was only acting weird around Dean.

Dean didn't particularly like that. He couldn't think of anything he had said or done that would make Castiel, unless he somehow offended his friend without realizing it.

It was starting to mess with Dean's head. For example, he would walk over to Cas after a performance, only to have his friend make some excuse and leave. Or, when he wasn't able to get away, he refused to talk with or look at Dean; though Dean would sometimes get the strange feeling that somebody was staring at him, as soon as he turned around al he saw was Castiel walking off, or completely ignoring him.

Dean felt as if there was some huge pit in his stomach, eventually he found himself losing his temper over the littlest things; he even shouted at Anna the other day over some minor mistake that ended up being his fault after all.

He honestly had no idea why it bothered him so much, but he couldn't get the idea of Castiel purposely avoiding him out of his head, and it just made him feel worse.

The Sunday, Sam had to practically drag Dean out of the house to the theater. Sam had noticed Castiel's odd behavior, and the resulting effect on Dean's moods. In fact it was pretty hard to ignore.

At first he was a little put off by Cas' sudden change in attitude, and was afraid that he and Dean were fighting, but Lucifer explained to him that Castiel had told Balthazar (who then told everyone) about his feelings for Dean, and just wasn't sure how to take the next step.

Sam just wished he would hurry up with it, because if he had to deal with his brother's sulking for one more day, he might actually go crazy.

As they pulled up to the old theater's door, Sam had already gotten out of the car before he noticed Dean hadn't moved, and was still pouting in the driver's seat.

"Dude, are you coming or not?" Sam snapped.

Dean just let out a faint, annoyed mutter in reply, and crossed his arms.

"Okay, that's it!" Sam burst out, slamming his door and marching angrily into the lobby.

"Gabe, Anna, Balthazar, Lucifer, Meeting. Now." He called out.

A minute later they were all settled in the tech booth, which had become their 'base of operation's' for the plan to get Dean and Castiel together. Everyone was present, except for Lucifer who was rehearsing.

"Last straw guys, we need to do something about them! If I have to deal with Dean-the-teenage-girl _one more day_, something bad is going to happen!" Sam yelled.

"We can't rush them. Castiel has admitted he has feelings, we just need to give this time to play out." Anna said, ever the voice of reason.

"No! I swear, if I have to listen to him blasting Avril Lavigne again, I can't be held responsible for my actions!"

"Hey, dealing with Cassie hasn't exactly been a walk in the park either!" Balthazar said annoyed.

"Yeah, Cas won't shut up! I swear every second he's like 'oh why doesn't he notice? How do I tell him? What should I do?'" Gabriel complained. "He's so nervous; it's starting to rub off on me!" He finished, crankily.

Suddenly Lucifer burst through the door, wearing a white dressing gown, and completely covered in white baby-powder. "I heard you were calling a meeting, what did I miss?"

Everyone stared at him in surprise and confusion, the shock making them all temporarily forget what they had been discussing.

"Uh, Lucifer…Why are you covered in baby powder?" Sam finally managed to choke out.

Lucifer turned and looked at him quickly. "We were working on one of the scenes after Banquo dies, and apparently Macbeth starts hallucinating that Banquo is haunting him, hence the ghost get-up." He explained casually.

"That sounds horrible." Sam replied, shuddering at the thought of any poor person having to deal with having Lucifer in their head…..

"Aw, c'mon Sam, I bet you would like it, we could have tons of fun!" Lucifer said smoothly, wrapping his arm around Sam's shoulders. "We could be bunk-buddies." He purred into Sam's ear.

Sam jerked away, pushing Lucifer's arm off him, sputtering indignantly.

"We were talking about the Dean-and-Castiel situation before you happened to show up and interrupt." Gabriel announced, throwing a pointed look at Lucifer.

"Ah yes, dear little Cassie. I assume you are all trying to figure out how to stop the agonizing sexual-tension problem between him and Dean that makes me feel like I'm going to be sick?" Lucifer immediately responded, completely ignoring the annoyance in Gabriel's tone.

"Yes. We don't know whether we should interfere, or just let them work it out." Anna explained.

Lucifer sat down, crossing his legs and rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I say we do both." Seeing the other's looks of confusion he explained, "We get Dean and Cas in the same room, then leave them alone. With luck, the tension will make one of them break down, and we won't have to result to more drastic measures."

Everyone thought it over, it seemed like a good plan. One by one they all agreed.

"So, when do we do it?" Gabriel asked.

"Well, we have to do it soon, because honestly I might just kill one of them if they keep this up much longer." Lucifer groaned.

Everyone agreed with that.

.

Meanwhile, Dean had eventually gotten out of the car and was helping Garth and Samandriel bring in boxes of shipments to Becky and Charlie.

After he had finished he started to look around for Sam, who was nowhere to be found, Neither were Gabriel or Lucifer, which made Dean slightly concered. _Oh well, if something was_ really_ wrong,_ _Anna or Michael would have called the cops by now_….which wouldn't be the first time it happened.

Walking quickly around the corner, Dean wasn't looking where he was going and ran into someone, knocking them down.

"Aw shit, I'm so sorr-" Dean cut off when he saw who he had knocked down.

Castiel was on the floor, his script pages sprawled across the ground around him.

"Crap, sorry Cas, let me help with that." Dean reached down and started trying o gather the pieces of paper into a pile.

"No!" Castiel blurted suddenly. "I mean…no, it's okay." He muttered, correcting himself. He grabbed the papers before Dean could, and quickly brushed himself off, starting to walk away quickly.

"Hey, wait a second! Hey! Cas!" Dean ran after Castiel, grabbing him firmly by the arm and making him stop.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw Cas' angry expression, bordering on downright hostile. He swallowed hard, "Hey man, why are you avoiding me?" Dean looked into his friends hard, blue eyes. "If I offended you or anything, I totally didn't mean it." He said quietly, the hole in his chest feeling larger than ever.

For a second, a look of sorrow flashed through Castiel's eyes. "Dean, I didn't mean to-" Castiel cut off his apology when he saw Dean's hurt expression. It was true, he had been avoiding Dean, but he just didn't know how he was supposed to act. Ever since his talk with Balthazar his feelings seemed even more overwhelming than before, and it only got worse every time he saw Dean.

It also didn't help that Balthazar said that Sam thought Dean liked him back. _Seriously, how was he supposed to react?! _

Suddenly he made the mistake of looking into Dean's green eyes, and felt the air forcibly exit his chest. Without any warning, he found himself unintentionally moving forward, closing the gap between them, still hyper-aware that Dean's hand was still on his wrist.

He stared, mesmerized by Dean's eyes. At this range he could see they were more than just simply green; he could see a hundred hues of greens and golds, framed by those almost girlishly-long eyelashes.

Castiel's face was only a few inches away at this point. Just another second and he could close the gap.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps from around the corner.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt anything!"

They immediately sprang apart, leaning against opposite walls.

Samandriel coughed awkwardly, not sure if he should say anything or not.

"You weren't." Dean said quickly, breath slightly hitched. "Do you need something?"

"Um…yeah, Raphael said that another shipment of boxes arrived for us to bring down to Charlie." Samadriel explained unsurely.

"Oh, okay. Let's go." Dean agreed quickly, walking quickly away in the direction of the stairs, practically dragging Samandriel behind him.

Castiel panted heavily, leaning his head against the wall and calm his racing heartbeat.

.

For the rest of the day, Dean could only think about was Cas' reaction before. He really couldn't remember how they ended up so close together.

"It was just a freak reaction, instinct. That's it. It wasn't like we were going to ki-"

Dean shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thought. The fact that he was even interpreting _whatever it was_ that happened earlier as almost kissing Castiel just _proved_ how messed up he was that week.

He managed to somewhat forget it for the rest of the day, and by the time he and Sam left that day, he managed to convince himself that he was just overthinking it.

.

As soon as they entered the theater the next morning, Sam and Dean knew that something was wrong.

Nobody was around, and it was absolutely silent.

Looking at each other nervously, they cautiously walked in, and opened the doors to the auditorium.

Immediately, tons of eyes turned to look at them. It seemed like the entire company were present, even Chuck, who was sitting in the front row, looking annoyed.

They didn't understand what was going on, until a voice spoke from the stage.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here, a few latecomers?"

Sam and Dean looked up to see a man in an expensive-looking suit raising his eyebrows at them.

"These are Sam and Dean Winchester. They come and help out with the stagehands." Chuck explained tiredly.

"Oh, well, what a surprise." The man drawled in a British accent as he slowly walked off the stage and down the center aisle, approaching the brothers.

"Well, I hope you two have found the experience…enjoyable." The man said quietly, with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I will see you all later!" The man announced imperiously to the auditorium, before walking out the doors.

Immediately after he left, everyone began talking in panicked tones.

Sam and Dean found their way to where Castiel and the others were sitting.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, what's with Sir. Douchebag?" Dean added.

"His name is Crowley." The group jumped at Chuck's voice behind them. Turning they could see a tired look on his face.

"He is a critic. He was just coming by to tell us that he is going to be attending our opening performance of Macbeth next week…" Chuck trailed off, then walked away abruptly, running his hair through his hands. As he left, most of the other's did too, going to start their jobs for the day.

"Wait, he's just a critic? Don't you guys get those all the time? Why are you all so worked up about it?" Sam wondered, turning back to their remaining group.

"He's not an ordinary critic." Anna began quietly.

"Yeah, he's vicious. He's taken down plenty of theaters before." Gabriel added. "We call him the King of Hell."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances.

"So, what, is it your turn to face the firing squad or something?" Dean asked, annoyed at the idea of some critic trying to take them down.

"No, well, not really." Balthazar began. "You see, he and dad have always had a sort of…rivalry between them. I'm not sure how it started, it was before our time and dad doesn't really talk to us about it. Anyways, every year Crowley tries to shut us down, last year he almost sank us completely with his review. One more like that and…"

Everyone thought about it in silence.

"Well, I guess if it's our turn to go, it's our time." Gabriel said bleakly. He stood up and walked out of the auditorium. With a look, Sam and the rest followed him.

Dean started to go too, then hesitated when he saw that Castiel was still sitting there. He was staring silently off into space, in fact, Dean was pretty sure he hadn't said a word since they arrived.

He went and stood next to his friend, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Hey Cas, what's wrong?"

Castiel looked up at Dean, grief in his eyes. "I can't do it, Dean."

Dean looked at him in surprise, _what was he talking about_?

Seeing Dean's confused look, Castiel continued. "I can't go up there and perform, knowing that Crowley is watching! I mean, he is looking for any excuse to write a bad review, and a stagehand like me, trying to act? He's going to destroy us!" Castiel got up agitatedly as he continued. "The theater will shut down, and it will be entirely my fault!" He shouted, with rising hysteria, and started pacing back and forth.

Dean felt a like huge weight had been dropped on his chest. He thought after the auditions that Castiel had finally started to give himself some credit, but one visit from that freaking critic, and Cas was back to hating himself again!

"I should just quit. Let somebody else play Macbeth, I can't do it!" Castiel continued to mutter despairingly.

"Cas, SHUT UP!" Dean snapped furiously, forcefully pushing Casitel down into one of the seats.

Panting heavily, Dean took a second to catch his breath. "Stop saying things like that. Why can't you perform in front of Crowley?" He continued, slightly calmer, but still intense.

"You know why Dean. There is no way that someone like me can stand a chance against Crowley, and if I mess up then the entire theater will fail, and it will be all my fault!" Castiel cried.

"That's bull. First off, what do you mean someone 'like you'? From what I can see you're pretty freaking talented. Why do you think Chuck picked you out of everybody? You think he didn't realize that you didn't have much experience? Besides, if this happens every year than he was probably expecting this, and he still picked you!" Dean explained heatedly.

"And if you mess up, so what? It sound like he rails on you guys anyways! It's not your fault! If you get a bad review it's because he's a bastard, not because you did anything wrong!"

Castiel looked at Dean, stunned.

Dean took a deep breath. "Look man, I can't stand to see you beat up yourself like this, okay? I just…can't. You can't see how, just…._awesome_ you are, and it kinda kills me." Dean whispered raggedly. He took another breath to calm down, and offered his hand to Castiel to help him back up from the chair.

Suddenly, Castiel grabbed his hand, yanking Dean down on top of him. He grabbed the back of Dean's head, bringing their lips together forcefully, Castiel's chapped ones crashing into Dean's soft ones.

At first Dean was stiff with shock, but he found himself relaxing, and soon he was tangling his hands in Cas' hair, deepening this kiss, and pulling himself further up onto Cas' lap.

Castiel felt Dean run his hands under his shirt, and down his back, his touch leaving a tingling trail behind on his skin, and bringing their bodies together.

The deepened this kiss further, and Dean heard Castiel let out a moan.

"Dean." Castiel gasped between breaths.

Suddenly Dean came to his senses, and practically jumped off of Castiel, causing him to bang painfully into the row of seats behind him.

"Dean?" Castiel whispered quietly, opening his eyes with a look of confusion.

Deans breath was heavy, his heart pounding so loud he could hear it beating.

"I-I can't….I'm not….I-" Dean sputtered shakily, mortified at what he had done. _It was Castiel, Cas! I was kissing _Cas_!_ Dean felt sick. _Why did he do that? What was wrong with him?!_

"I'm sorry, I-I have to go!" he blurted, running out of the room. He sprinted out of the building, into the parking lot, and into the Impala. He started the engine as fast as he could, and slammed on the gas, speeding out of the neighborhood without a destination,_ just anywhere but here!_

Castiel was still sitting in the seat where Dean had left him.

His shock and confusion eventually started to give way to anguish and devastation.

He curled in on himself, sobbing brokenly. _He _knew_ this would happen! He shouldn't have done anything! He knew Dean didn't like him that way, how could he? How could Castiel be so _stupid? _It was all his fault…._

He stayed there, in the dark auditorium, until Anna came in and found him there. Without a word, she left and brought him a blanket, wrapping it around his shoulders and comforting him.

A few moments later they were joined by the rest of his brothers and sisters.

"I'm so sorry, Castiel." Balthazar said, grief in his eyes. The rest of them merged around him, surrounding their little brother, and trying to fix what all of them knew they couldn't fix;

A broken heart.

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A/N: Yey! There it is, I hope you liked it! Finally the kiss! Wasn't that so happy and uplifting? (I actually feel kinda evil right now, sorry 'bout that!) I really hope I didn't break anyone's emotions! (Please don't hate me! Here, have a cookie!)


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the long wait! (how was that clliffhanger, huh? really happy and fun, right?) yeah, I feel kinda bad about that...anyways, on with the story! I hope you like this one (it was originaly longer, but I ended up spliting it up over two chapters, the other one should be up in a few days!

I appreciated all the reviews/feedback from the last chapter (though most of it made me feel kinda evil, thank you for bearing with my slow writing somewhat-patiantly! I love hearing from you all!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any Supernatural or Macbeth characters! (but I do own _you_, dear readers!)

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Of Love and Macbeth Ch.8

Sam was in the kitchen, getting ready to head to the theater. He was just finishing cleaning up his dishes from breakfast, when he heard someone walking downstairs.

"Hey Dean, I just finished cleaning, don't make a mess in here!" He called out, not turning around.

"A-actually, um, could you please give me a ride home?" A quiet, decisively _female_ voice spoke behind him.

Sam turned around in surprise, seeing the random girl. Taking a closer look, Sam could see her makeup was smeared, and she was obviously wearing the same clothing from the night before (and, frankly, _reeked_ of alcohol.).

Sam groaned inwardly, this was the third time that he had to deal with the aftermath of Dean's 'I'm-having-an-identity-crisis-so-let's-ignore-the -real-problem-and-just-have-drunken-one-night-stan ds' problem.

Sam sighed, "Yeah, sure, where do you need to go?"

After dropping the girl off, Sam angrily stomped upstairs, slamming open the door to Dean's bedroom. He grabbed the glass of water sitting on Dean's nightstand, and proceeded to throw the contents on his sleeping brother.

Dean bolted upright with a yell. Wiping the water off of his face, he blurrily looked at Sam. "What the hell man?!"

In response, Sam stormed over to the window, yanking open the curtains while Dean hissed and covered his eyes from the sudden, painful light.

"That is it, Dean. I am done." Sam said angrily. "If I have to deal with some chick you hooked up with because of this whole Cas thing, I will throw your ass out of here!"

Dean winced at the loud volume of his brother's rant, his head pounding from the all-to-familiar sensation of a hangover. He flinched again when Sam mentioned Castiel.

He had been kind of a mess since the whole ki-…_incident_. That was two weeks ago, and he hadn't been back to the theater once, and he had no intention of returning, ever.

Honestly, he was just trying to forget it had ever happened. _I mean, so what? It was just a mistake, it didn't mean anything. I'm totally over it. The theater was fun while it lasted, and now it's over. _He tried to convince himself. For some reason though, it was hard to get the memory…_the feeling…those lips on his, pulling him close, that….No stop it_! Dean groaned, he couldn't stop thinking about it, as hard as he tried blocking it out with booze and sex, which never failed before. _Maybe you don't want to forget_, a little treacherous part of him thought. He groaned again, putting his head in his hands.

He felt Sam sit down on the bed beside him. "Hey man, I'm sorry." Sam apologized, putting his arm around his older brother. "I know this whole thing is confusing, which sucks, I know; but you can't keep on doing this to yourself. The drinking, the one-night-stands, it has to stop."

"You don't need to worry about me, Sammy. I'm fine." Dean muttered bleakly.

"Dude, that's a bunch of crap and we both know it." Sam stated. "You try and hide it, but I can see what all of this is doing to you. You can't hide things from me, Dean, I know you too well, and I know that this is killing you! Just stop it already!"

Dean was silent for a long moment, and Sam was afraid he had gone too far.

"….and what do you suppose I do?" Dean finally whispered.

Sam looked at him, thinking. "How do you really feel about Cas?"

Dean started slightly at the question. "I…I don't know….I'm not-"

"Yeah, I know you're 'not gay'." Sam interrupted. "That wasn't what I asked. I asked, how do you feel about Castiel?" He demanded.

"I think, I…I'm…I think…I love him, Sam." Dean finally admitted raggedly.

Dean got up off the bed, and started pacing agitatedly. "I mean, I can't stop thinking about what happened, and every second I'm thinking about _it_, and_ him_, and how he is, and what he's doing, but I have to stay away! It's driving me crazy, man!"

Sam nodded, waiting for Dean to stop his ranting before he spoke. "So, go tell him." He said simply.

Dean looked at him, distraught. "I can't. I just can't. After everything that happened, what I did, there's no way I can face him. He probably hates me anyways." He explained, sounding totally defeated.

Sam could see his point. Dean had it bad with trying to figure out his feelings on the situations, but _Cas_; Cas had completely put himself out there for the first time, and was completely rejected. Sam was still visiting the theater, and the aftermath…well, it wasn't pretty. Castiel seemed utterly empty. Whenever he finished performing, he would just leave the stage and go about his other duties, not talking, not crying, or yelling, just being absolutely silent as he cleaned. Sam had tried talking with Castiel once, but the look in his eyes, was completely shattered.

"Dean, I think if you just gave it a chance, explained what happened…"

"I said no, man. I'm not going back there, okay? Just drop it. Please." Dean warned, avoiding letting Sam see his face.

Sam sighed. He got Dean two aspirin and a glass of water, than left, headed to the theater.

.

Sam entered the theater, hoping to find the other members of team-dean-and-cas so they could talk about what happened. They had met a few times half-heartedly since the incident, but none of them had really had ideas of how to fix the situation, though now that Dean had admitted his feelings, they should be able to make some progress.

"Hey Sammich! Running a bit late today are we?" Gabriel greeted him, but he stopped when he saw the expression on Sam's face. "What happened?"

"Meeting, now. Get the others." Sam replied shortly. Gabriel nodded, and went to find the rest of their group.

A few minutes later they were all assembled in tech booth, as usual. Everyone had shown up, albeit slightly disheartened. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Gabriel asked when they were all settled.

"I uh, _talked_ to Dean this morning. He, well, he finally admitted that he loves Cas." Sam announced. Instantly the whole room brightened, everyone talking excitedly about what to do next.

"Okay guys, calm down!" He called out over the noise. When order had somewhat resumed, he continued, "Look, Dean is, well, he's refusing to come back; something about not being able to face Castiel or something."

"That's stupid, just tie him up and force him to come!" Balthazar shouted crankily.

"As much as I want to get this over with, Gabriel, we all know that that's not going to work, and we can't afford to make anything worse at this point." Anna said diplomatically.

"We don't have time, though. If that thickheaded Winchester doesn't want to come now, heaven knows he's not showing up after the play is over, which gives us until towmorrow night to think of something. We don't have enough time to do this right, sweetheart." Balthazar argued.

"Wait, guys, are we even sure Castiel would take Dean even if, by some miracle, we get him here?" Sam interrupted.

The room fell silent for a moment.

"Yes. Absolutely." Anna said, the rest of the room nodding in agreement.

"It's going to be tricky though." Balthazar warned.

"I have a plan of sorts, it'll require a lot of work to set up though, and it won't exactly be…appreciated by certain parties." Gabriel proposed. "Not to mention what could go wrong." He added (though Sam didn't think Gabriel looked all that concerned about the danger, in fact, he actually seemed to be enjoying the idea.)

"Oh, little brother, I like where you're going with this, count me in." Lucifer smirked.

"Will it work?" Sam asked seriously, looking between the two.

"Well, I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but if we get the right…leverage, then yeah, our brothers will be happily sucking each other's faces in no time."

Sam thought it over for a moment. "Okay. What do you need me to do?" Sam asked, immediately starting to regret his decision when he saw the two, identical smirks on Lucifer and Gabriel's faces.

_What did I just agree to?_

.

That night Dean thought Sam seemed to be acting weird. He kept watching Dean, looking like he was analyzing his every movement over dinner. Frankly, it was starting to piss Dean off.

"Okay, I know we had a sappy chick-flick moment this morning, but seriously dude, you're starting to creep me out with all the staring."

Sam jumped, he hadn't realized he was staring; his mind was too preoccupied with the plan. "Sorry, head's in the clouds I guess." He apologized. After a few moments of silently eating he spoke up, "So, uh, Dean, are you going to go to the performance tomorrow?" Sam asked in what he hoped sounded like a casual tone.

Dean groaned, slamming down his fork in annoyance. "I thought we were done with this, I said I'm not going back, so drop it." He snapped.

"Sorry, I just thought, y'know, you might want to support the others or something. You did help put most of this together after all." Sam reasoned.

"Sam, I'm not going and that's final." Seeing that Sam was about to interrupt he stood up, "I'm going to finish eating in my room. Good night." Dean announced shortly, and walked upstairs. Sam could hear the bedroom door slam a moment later.

After making sure Dean couldn't hear, Sam got out his phone, dialing hurriedly.

After the fourth ring, it picked up.

"_Hellooooo?"_

"Gabriel it's me."

"_Me who?"_

"It's Sam! Look, I don't have time for this!"

"_Oh hey Sammy! What, you feeling a little lonely? Is this a booty call or something, because you know I-"_

"Gabriel shut up! Listen, Dean isn't coming tomorrow!"

The other line was silent for a moment.

"What do I do?" Sam asked, panicked.

"…_Shit. You have to get him here somehow or else this whole plan is screwed over!"_

"I know, but how am I supposed to do that?" Sam repeated.

"_Just come to the theater like normal tomorrow. The performance isn't until tomorrow night, so we still have all day to think of something."_

"Okay, fine. How is everything going on your end?"

"_Seems to be coming along nicely, just need to figure out how to take care of the Michael problem, and we should be all set."_

"Okay. Good. I'll see you tomorrow."

"_Aww, don't pretend you won't see me in your dreams tonight! I know I'll see you~!"_

"Goodnight Gabriel." Sam hung up, cutting the man off before he had the chance to continue.

.

When Dean woke up the next morning, Sam had already gone, leaving a note on the counter saying that he was off to the theater to help set up before opening night.

Dean felt the guilt rise in his stomach, quickly crumpling the paper and throwing it in the garbage, with a little more force than was strictly necessary.

The day seemed to drag by. He tried distracting himself with working on the Impala, but even his baby couldn't distract him from his thoughts.

It felt wrong not to be at the show. After all, over the past month of his life had been dedicated to the making of this day. Still, he knew he couldn't face seeing everyone after what he had done.

As the time slowly ticked by, Dean's restlessness only got worse. Finally he looked at the clock, 7:45; the play would have already been well underway by now.

Dean felt his heart drop sickeningly in his chest. It was his last chance to see Castiel; he knew he would be too afraid to see him after this. In a way, the idea made him feel relieved and sick to his stomach at the same time.

Suddenly he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

He picked it up, seeing Sam's ID pop up on screen.

"Hey Sammy, what's up? Aren't you at the performance already?"

"Listen Dean, something's happened. Dean, Cas is in trouble, he needs you."

Dean felt his throat tighten.

Castiel was in trouble.

Cas needed him. _Cas _needed_ him_.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes." He stated, practically throwing down the phone as he hung up, and jumped into the car, peeling out of the driveway so fast it left tire marks on the pavement.

.

Sam grinned at the phone from backstage, the others around him smiling; surprised the plan was going so smoothly.

"Okay, the first half is of the play almost finished. All we need now is to get Dean here and in costume before the final confrontation and we're golden!" Gabriel pointed out.

"Phase two commencing now." Lucifer said, striding to the door of the closet they were all hiding in.

"Remember the plan!" Sam hissed. "Wait for Michael to finish this scene then get him backstage! Don't let anyone know what's going on!"

"Aww Sammy, have a little faith in me!" Lucifer said, with mock hurt. "Bye bye now kiddies, let's hope this works!" He called as he strolled out the door, rolling up his sleeves.

Sam looked at the others grimly. Now was the hard part.

A few minutes later Lucifer re-appeared, pulling a bound-and-gagged Michael with him. He entered the room, and cuffed Michael to one of the cabinets before removing the gag.

Immediately Michael exploded. "JUST WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL ARE YOU ALL DOING? WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PERFORMANCE IF YOU HADN'T NOTICED! I NEED TO BE BACK ONSTAGE IN 10 MINUTES, AND SO DO MOST OF YOU I MIGHT ADD! LET ME GO THIS INSTANT!" He screamed.

"Aww, calm down Mikey, we got it all covered." Lucifer said teasingly.

Michael lunged at him, but his hands were still cuffed so he didn't get that far. ( If he wasn't Sam was worried he might actually try to try to kill Lucifer, that or have a stroke, if the alarming shade of red on Michael's face was any indication.)

"I'm really sorry Michael, you can yell at us later, but right now we need you to stay here!" Anna said apologetically as the group left the room,.

"WAIT! ALL OF YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTA-!" His yelling was cut off by Gabriel closing and locking the door.

"Okay now we just need to get Dean ready." Sam panted.

Almost on cue, they heard footsteps rapidly approaching down the hallway.

.

Dean turned around the corner and saw Anna, Balthazar, Lucifer, Gabriel, and Sam all standing there, like they were waiting for him.

He slowed his approach, becoming suspicious. "Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Dean, we need you to go onstage." Balthazar said shortly.

Dean stared at him in shock for a minute, mouth agape. "Wait, what? I thought you said…you said that Cas…_what_?!"

"Dean, Michael is…sick_. _He just collapsed after the last scene. We need you to fill in for him." Sam explained, hoping Dean couldn't see through his lie, fortunately Dean was still in shock.

"What? Why?! You are all actors, can't you fill in? Don't you have, like, understudies or something?!" Dean yelled, panicked. _This was _not_ what he was expecting when he agreed to come!_

"We can't, everyone else is onstage or working crew! We can't pull anyone out to help!"

"Look, there is no way I can do this! I don't even know the lines! What's happening?!" He moaned, mainly wondering how he even got in this situation.

"Dude, you've been to every rehearsal, you read the book, you'll do fine. We are right near the end, Michael got through all the other scenes, you just need to do the final part were Macduff kills Macbeth. That's it!"

"News flash Sammy, reading it is a lot different than acting it on stage with hundreds of people watching!" Dean hissed angrily.

"If it helps, it's more like a thousand, the theater's sold out." Lucifer added oh-so-helpfully.

Dean turned a sickly shade of white.

Sam caught his brother. "Look man, I know this is bad, but Cas is out there, and he needs you. Without you this whole thing is going to crash and burn, and you know he'll blame himself for it. Do you really want that?" Sam stated. He knew that he was playing dirty, but at this point they couldn't exactly turn back. Seeing Dean hesitate he added;

"Dean Castiel _needs_ you." He repeated.

Dean looked at him desperately. "Fine, I'll do it." He swallowed voice weak.

"Here" Anna handed him a costume from the rack beside her. "Charlie used your measurements to make the costume, right? So this should fit you. Michael gave it to us before he…left (actually they had Charlie and Becky rush-make an exact replica that morning for him, but Dean didn't have to know that…)

Dean nodded, not trusting himself to speak without getting sick.

He went behind one of the stacks of boxes and changed into the costume.

When he emerged, Charlie and Becky had come up, holding a box of makeup. Dean didn't even get the chance to greet them before they launched at his face, fixing him up for the stage lights.

Suddenly they heard the music rise in a loud fanfare.

"Crap, that's your cue!" Sam said, dragging Dean down the hallway to the side wing to the stage.

Dean looked at his brother, eyes wide with panic. "Sam, I can't do this." He whispered voice ragged.

Sam clasped his hand on Dean's shoulder. "Dean, its Cas. Just go out there and do your best, okay?"

Dean took a shaky breath, nodding…

…and then not moving.

Sam looked at him for a second. "Do you need me to push you?" he asked.

Dean nodded again.

Sam rolled his eyes and pushed Dean through the curtain, onto the stage.

Dean was momentarily blinded by the bright stage lights. When his vision cleared he could see the back of a familiar figure in front of him.

.

* * *

**A/N**: yey! another chapter complete! (and another cliffhanger...sorry!)

Dean, stop hooking up with random girls to solve your problems! we all know you really want Cas!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note**: See that didn't take nearly as long to update! yey! Thank you so much for everyone who followed and reviewed, your comments are the highlight of my day! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Supernatural, Macbeth, any of the characters, or Macbeth script!

* * *

Of Love and Macbeth Ch. 8.2

So far the play had been going well, Castiel supposed. They had almost finished the play, and now he only had this scene before he could be finished. At first it had been a bit shaky, he had not expected this many people to attend. At first he strained his eyes, looking around in the crowd for a familiar set of green eyes. When he didn't spot Dean however, the familiar wave of anguish stabbed at him. _He wasn't expecting Dean to show up, he honestly didn't know how he would react if he did, but still, he wanted..._

As the performance went on, Castiel was able to forget about it once again as he felt himself slide into character.

It was finally his last scene. He would enter first as Macbeth, then Michael would enter behind him, as Macduff. The two of them would fight, then Macduff would kill him, ending the scene. Simple.

Backstage, Castiel was worried when he didn't see Michael in the other wing; he was never late to an entrance. But Castiel went on anyways as the music swelled to signal his entrance, he was sure Michael would be on time.

He stepped forward, into the spotlight. "Why should I play the Roman fool, and die on mine own sword? Whiles I see lives, the gash do better upon them." He called out, speaking his first lines.

A slight silence followed his words, and he realized that Michael must have missed the cue. Castiel started sweating and closed his eyes; he honestly didn't know what he was supposed to do if he had to improvise! Just as he was about to start panicking, he heard someone stumble on stage behind him.

"Uh, T-turn, hell-hound, turn!" A voice called out shakily. Castiel's eyes sprang open. He recognized that voice, _but no, it couldn't be…._

He turned suddenly, seeing Dean standing behind him, in Michael's costume.

For a painful moment all he could do was stare at Dean standing before him. Dean. He wanted to call it out, feel the familiar sensation of the name on his tongue.

A silence stretched as he stared at Dean, until he realized, with a jolt, that Dean waiting for him to say his line. Castiel swallowed, trying to control the sudden wave of emotions crashing over him, threatening to overwhelm him.

"Of all men else I have avoided thee; but get the back; my soul is too much charged with blood of thine already." He announced, continuing the script.

Dean looked at Castiel, watched his reaction as he turned and saw Dean standing there, the look in his blue eyes. At first the man seemed to be in shock, and Dean was afraid that he might collapse then in there, thankfully Dean his expression smooth as Castiel slipped into character, speaking the next line, though the look of confusion in his eyes remained.

He looked at Castiel heavily as he spoke. "I have no words; my voice is in my sword: though bloodier villain than terms can give thee out!"

He moved towards Castiel purposefully, his body on autopilot. Suddenly he saw Castiel's sword swing at him in response, and he blocked it instinctively, starting the fight scene.

They continued moving closer as they read the script, Dean felt like he was in a trance, trading lines with Castiel as neither of them broke eye contact. He couldn't read the look in Castiel's eyes, the deep blue was clouded with a mix of emotions that he couldn't quite place.

Dean was sure his face probably looked the same.

He snapped out of his thoughts when he realized they were on the final line.

"I will not yield, to kiss the ground before Malcolm's feet, and to be baited with the rabble's curse. Though Birnam would be come to Dunsinane, and though opposed, being of no woman born, yet I will try the last." Castiel announced, bringing his sword and shield up before him.

He was looking at Dean now, the look in his eyes intensifying. If Dean thought Castiel was good acting before, then from this close the effect was…mesmerizing.

Castiel continued the speech, staring at Dean. "Before my body I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff, and damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!" Castiel shouted the last line, suddenly lunging at Dean with the prop sword.

Dean turned reflexively, blocking Castiel's sword with his own, only to instantly have to move to block another strike. The hits continued viciously, at a rapid pace. Finally Dean managed to get a handle on what was happening. He suddenly stopped, using Castiel's surprise and momentum to turn himself around and get close enough to knock Castiel's sword out of his hand. Dean threw his shield around the other side, effectively trapping Castiel helplessly between him and it.

His face was only a few inches away from Castiel's. Breathing heavily they stared at each other for a long moment in a heavy silence. Suddenly, Dean dropped his shield, using his free arm to pull Castiel in, forcing his lips against Cas'.

Castiel stiffened in shock. _What was Dean doing? Why was he…was he…Dean was…kissing him? _Suddenly that thought was the only thing on Castiels' mind. He drew himself up, parting Dean's lips with his own. He felt Dean move in even closer, gripping him tight enough to probably leave a mark, but Castiel didn't necessarily mind. He was fully involved in enjoying the sensation of Dean, here, with him.

For what seemed like an eternity they stood there, fully enveloped in each other's presence, forgetting about where they were, or the play, or the audience_…or the….audience…_

Castiel heard a faint cough from the crowd. He sprang apart from Dean, and could see everyone's face in the crowd staring up at them in complete and utter shock.

Castiel stood there absolutely mortified, gasping like a fish out of water.

"Uh, Dean." He whispered quietly, voice weak. "I-I think you should kill me now."

Dean stared at him in confusion for a moment. "What?" Suddenly he remembered the play. "Oh, right!" Dean said, picking up his sword. He had almost forgotten that Macduff killed Macbeth during the fight. He plunged the prop sword into Castiel's chest, blade collapsing into the handle to look like he had really stabbed him.

Castiel gasped and collapsed forward, fake blood pouring from the 'wound.'

Dean carried Castiel's body offstage. As soon as they got out of the curtain line, he fell to the ground, shaking. "Shit, I am never doing that again!" Dean vowed, the leftover nerves from being onstage threatening to make him sick.

Castiel put his hand over Dean's mouth, warning him to be quiet in case their voices carried.

"Dean, be assured, I will make you explain everything later," Castiel warned "but right now I believe you have to go back out and do the final part." He saw Dean's look of panic. "All it is you crowning Gabriel, than bows." He reminded him. Dean nodded, and they heard the fanfare that announced his entrance.

As Castiel watched Dean leave, he couldn't help but feel like he was in some sort of dream, and reality was going to come crashing down on it, waking him up to the hell he had been living for the past two weeks.

Since Dean had…ran away…left him after Castiel had tried to confess his feelings…

Castiel stopped, feeling the familiar hollowness that had been growing inside of him since that day. He had been crushed, which was an understatement. Tonight he had finally managed to slightly reconcile with the fact that he loved Dean, who hated him, and he would never see again; but then there he appeared! Showing up, in the middle of the scene no less! _And then…they kissed…and Dean…._Castiel didn't know what to think anymore.

All he knew was that with each passing second Dean was gone, it seemed more and more like a dream, like Dean would run away and never return again.

Just as the thought began to overwhelm him, Castiel saw Dean emerge from the curtain, and walk up to him, embracing him.

"Cas I-"

"Oh Dean-o! Cassie! You two lovebirds can come out now!" Dean and Castiel groaned as they heard Gabriel's voice boom through the intercom, with Sam and Lucifer laughing loudly in the background.

They looked at each other, then walked back out on stage. Immediately they were surrounded by the other Cast and Crew members. They were greeted and congratulated by Anna, Balthazar, Garth, Kevin, Charlie, and Becky. Who smiled at them smugly for some reason that Dean probably didn't want to know about.

Also there, but looking decidedly _less _pleased were the rest of the cast and crew, Dean was sure they would get a lecture of jeopardizing and potentially ruining the performance later; but right now Cas was next to him, and honestly that was all that mattered.

A few moments they were joined by Lucifer, Sam, and Gabriel, who threw confetti at them, serenading loudly.

"Come on Dean, after party!" Gabriel shouted loudly, music blaring over the speakers. Out of nowhere Balthazar and Lucifer produced a drink table, and soon everyone was having fun, celebrating the albeit-slightly-twisted-success of the play.

.

After a while, Dean and Castiel decided to slip away from the party. It was getting a little too wild, and Dean wasn't sure he wanted to stick around when Lucifer and Gabriel suggested playing spin the bottle, both grabbing Sam under one arm, and making him join.

Out in the lobby, Dean and Castiel sat at one of the couches, enjoying the quiet. Finally, Castiel looked over at Dean, and Dean knew it was time to explain.

"Cas I.." Dean broke off not sure how to explain what had happened in the last few days. "Damn man, I just…I'm so sorry!" He blurted. "I never meant to leave, I just…I didn't know how to react! I mean, I never thought I was…_you know_…heck I never even thought I could fall in love with someone!"

Castiel stared. _Did Dean just say that he…loved him?_

"Man, I was so lost without you! I was an idiot! I never meant to leave, and I swear, I will never do it again! I don't think I can, actually. I love you Cas, and I'm so sorry." Dean declared, looking at Castiel, trying to judge his reaction.

Castiel was still trying to figure out how to process the information.

He finally managed to speak. "Dean, this past week I-I didn't know what to think." Castiel began roughly.

Dean felt something in him break, _he should have known Castiel wouldn't feel the same! How could he even think that he would take him back after what he had done?!_

"I-I understand. I'll leave. I'm sorry for wasting your time." Dean's voice cracked, he got up and turned to leave.

He felt Cas grab his arm, making him stop.

"Dean."

Dean turned and looked into Castiels blue eyes, staring at him steadily.

"You didn't let me finish. I didn't know what to think. All I knew was that I loved you, and that you might not ever come back. And now, now you're here, and I know you feel the same way, and…and if you think I'm ever letting you leave again than you truly are an idiot."

Castiel leaned towards him, pulling him in for a kiss, this one long and sweet, a thousand promises that didn't need to be spoken.

Castiel opened his eyes and saw Dean standing there, looking back at him. "You're still here." He said simply.

Dean smiled. "And I always will be." He swore.

.

Inside Sam looked up from their game of spin the bottle. "Um, guys? I think we forgot about Michael."

* * *

A/N: yey! A happy chapter! (and no cliffhanger this time!) There is one more chapter after this, and it's more like a wrap-up, but I hope you enjoy and look forward to that coming soon!

(by the way, if any of you watched the finale yesterday we can go cry in a corner together)


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